A New Exodus
Notes
Transcript
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Introduction
Introduction
Walking through London and Edinburgh looking at the statues. looking back over the last year, Illustration - Monuments. (Climbing Ben Nevis)
My Dilemma
My Dilemma
What you are going to see in this passage is that God seems to simultaneously evoke the language of the past only to then tell his people to forget it.
Big Idea and Why you should Listen?
Big Idea and Why you should Listen?
My Dilemma
My Dilemma
What you are going to see in this passage is that God seems to simultaneously evoke the language of the past, to stir up faith only then to then tell his people to forget the past because he is doing a new thing.
Why you should Listen?
Why you should Listen?
Tonight as we approach a new year, I would like us to consider as a church family What God has done, what God is doing, and to encourage us to be expectant about what God is going to do in 2018 and beyond. But more importantly to consider both as individuals and as a church family the scriptural revelation of how we are to relate to Gods past activity in a way that pleases God, for our growth and His Glory.
Exposition
Exposition
As we look at this text in Isaiah 43 remember”
For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.
What you are going to see in this passage is that God seems to simultaneously evoke the language of the past only to then tell his people to forget it.
The forgetting that Paul emphasises It is the sort of dwelling on the past that hinders our present effort and our future progress. These would include persistent bitterness about past wrongs (real or supposed). Despair over past sins whereby believers doubt if they will ever be forgiven giving rise to defeatism and backward-looking disputation
The forgetting that Paul emphasises It is the sort of dwelling on the past that hinders our present effort and our future progress. These would include persistent bitterness about past wrongs (real or supposed). Despair over past sins whereby believers doubt if they will ever be forgiven giving rise to defeatism and backward-looking disputation
Context
Context
Despairing Exiles (They remembered the Glory days)
They remembered the Glory days.
Faceless Exiles - (Identity Crisis)
Comparison with the contemporary church in the post post modern culture.
Three Points
Three Points
Three Points
Three Points
1) Remembering God's faithfulness (evoking the language of the Exodus)
Isa 43:16-17
This is what the Lord says—
he who made a way through the sea,
a path through the mighty waters,
who drew out the chariots and horses,
the army and reinforcements together,
and they lay there, never to rise again,
extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:
What is happening here is that God is evoking the language of the Exodus - God is being identified here with mighty acts of the past and is about to do something new a new exodus is about to occur.
In the OT the Israelites where encouraged to consider the past, not so much as it related to them and their failures but in how it related to God and His faithfulness to them. There are a few example of this given in the Bible and particularly in the Psalms.
the Lord has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes.
The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
God has done great things and it is marvellous in our eyes. God himself instructed the Israelites to erect a memorial to the past upon entering the promised land.
4 So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, 5 and said to them, “Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, 6 to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ 7 tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.”
4 So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, 5 and said to them, “Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, 6 to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ 7 tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.”
8 So the Israelites did as Joshua commanded them. They took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, as the Lord had told Joshua; and they carried them over with them to their camp, where they put them down. 9 Joshua set up the twelve stones that had been in the middle of the Jordan at the spot where the priests who carried the ark of the covenant had stood. And they are there to this day.
10 Now the priests who carried the ark remained standing in the middle of the Jordan until everything the Lord had commanded Joshua was done by the people, just as Moses had directed Joshua. The people hurried over,
If done correctly It is a good and godly thing to remember the past, the glorious things that God does. But there is an inappropriate way to remember the past as well, some people are not content to remember the past but are intent to remain in it and that is not how the God of the Bible desires his people to live nor how they are to be characterised.
The Stones before entering the Promised land. The Various Psalms and recantations of Gods Actions in History.
The Various Psalms and recantations of Gods Actions in History. If done correctly It is a good thing to remember the past, the glorious things that God does. But there is an inappropriate way to remember the past as well, some people are not content to remember the past but are intent to remain in it and that is not how the God of the Bible desires his people to live nor how they are to be characterised.
If done correctly It is a good thing to remember the past, the glorious things that God does. But there is an inappropriate way to remember the past as well, some people are not content to remember the past but are intent to remain in it and that is not how the God of the Bible desires his people to live nor how they are to be characterised.
When you look back on this last year remember the awesome things that God has done and give him thanks and tell of his great deeds.
As a corporate body when you look back over this last year and previous years remember what the Lord has done and give him thanks.
If done correctly it is a good and godly thing to remember the past, the glorious things that God done. However, there is an inappropriate way to remember the past as-well. Some people are not content to remember the past but are intent to remain in it and that is not how the God of the Bible desires his people to live nor how they are to be characterised.
2) Remembering Gods activity in the past is meant to point alert and awaken us to his activity in the present. (The fact that in our midst he is always doing a new thing, working for our good and for his Glory.) This is why he says now forget the Past.
18 “Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
19 See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), .
Eviden
Living in the past is something the people of god have always struggled and contended with and the reason that is is a problem is that it spiritually blinds them to see what God is doing in their present midst and where he is leading them in the future. “Now it springs up do you not perceive it?”
Remembering and lamenting can be good,
Yet too much lamenting by exiles runs the risk of self-indulgence to the point where they become preoccupied with self. Indeed the author of Isaiah
10
40-55 has to work hard to instil trust in the God of Israel as the creator of all and encourages his exiled audience sing to the Lord a New Song of Joy ().
Lot’s wife. (looking backward not forwards) The blessing was away from what she knew
Longing for Egypt. God lead them into a wilderness in order to bring them into a promised land.
(Romanticising the Past) Structures, Routine, Familiarity, But now hey were in a wilderness. The blessing was away from what they new
The construction of a new temple - They wept The future blessing God promised would be beyond compare.
10 When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments and with trumpets, and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with cymbals, took their places to praise the Lord, as prescribed by David king of Israel. 11 With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the Lord:
“He is good;
his love toward Israel endures forever.”
And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. 12 But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy. 13 No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise. And the sound was heard far away.
3 ‘Who of you is left who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Does it not seem to you like nothing? 4 But now be strong, Zerubbabel,’ declares the Lord. ‘Be strong, Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land,’ declares the Lord, ‘and work. For I am with you,’ declares the Lord Almighty. 5 ‘This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear.’
Living in the past is something the people of god have always struggled and contended with
1 Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the Lord, and when he heard them his anger was aroused. Then fire from the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp. 2 When the people cried out to Moses, he prayed to the Lord and the fire died down. 3 So that place was called Taberah, because fire from the Lord had burned among them.
4 The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, “If only we had meat to eat! 5 We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. 6 But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!”
7 The manna was like coriander seed and looked like resin. 8 The people went around gathering it, and then ground it in a hand mill or crushed it in a mortar. They cooked it in a pot or made it into loaves. And it tasted like something made with olive oil. 9 When the dew settled on the camp at night, the manna also came down.
10 Moses heard the people of every family wailing at the entrance to their tents. The Lord became exceedingly angry, and Moses was troubled. 11 He asked the Lord, “Why have you brought this trouble on your servant? What have I done to displease you that you put the burden of all these people on me? 12 Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth? Why do you tell me to carry them in my arms, as a nurse carries an infant, to the land you promised on oath to their ancestors? 13 Where can I get meat for all these people? They keep wailing to me, ‘Give us meat to eat!’ 14 I cannot carry all these people by myself; the burden is too heavy for me. 15 If this is how you are going to treat me, please go ahead and kill me—if I have found favor in your eyes—and do not let me face my own ruin.”
16 The Lord said to Moses: “Bring me seventy of Israel’s elders who are known to you as leaders and officials among the people. Have them come to the tent of meeting, that they may stand there with you. 17 I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take some of the power of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them. They will share the burden of the people with you so that you will not have to carry it alone.
18 “Tell the people: ‘Consecrate yourselves in preparation for tomorrow, when you will eat meat. The Lord heard you when you wailed, “If only we had meat to eat! We were better off in Egypt!” Now the Lord will give you meat, and you will eat it. 19 You will not eat it for just one day, or two days, or five, ten or twenty days, 20 but for a whole month—until it comes out of your nostrils and you loathe it—because you have rejected the Lord, who is among you, and have wailed before him, saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?” ’ ”
21 But Moses said, “Here I am among six hundred thousand men on foot, and you say, ‘I will give them meat to eat for a whole month!’ 22 Would they have enough if flocks and herds were slaughtered for them? Would they have enough if all the fish in the sea were caught for them?”
23 The Lord answered Moses, “Is the Lord’s arm too short? Now you will see whether or not what I say will come true for you.”
24 So Moses went out and told the people what the Lord had said. He brought together seventy of their elders and had them stand around the tent. 25 Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke with him, and he took some of the power of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied—but did not do so again.
26 However, two men, whose names were Eldad and Medad, had remained in the camp. They were listed among the elders, but did not go out to the tent. Yet the Spirit also rested on them, and they prophesied in the camp. 27 A young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.”
28 Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses’ aide since youth, spoke up and said, “Moses, my lord, stop them!”
29 But Moses replied, “Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!” 30 Then Moses and the elders of Israel returned to the camp.
31 Now a wind went out from the Lord and drove quail in from the sea. It scattered them up to two cubits deep all around the camp, as far as a day’s walk in any direction. 32 All that day and night and all the next day the people went out and gathered quail. No one gathered less than ten homers. Then they spread them out all around the camp. 33 But while the meat was still between their teeth and before it could be consumed, the anger of the Lord burned against the people, and he struck them with a severe plague. 34 Therefore the place was named Kibroth Hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had craved other food.
35 From Kibroth Hattaavah the people traveled to Hazeroth and stayed there.
The Structures of Egypt
The reconstruction of the temple - Gods heart.
The exile was a truly traumatic event for the Jewish people and this is evidenced in the many laments scattered throughout scripture, Yet too much lamenting by exiles runs the risk of self-indulgence to the point where they become preoccupied with self. Indeed the author of Isaiah has to work hard to instil trust in the God of Israel as the creator of all, and encourages his exiled audience sing to the Lord a New Song of Joy (). They were so caught up in the past that they forgot their calling to be missionaries in the foreign land, to seek the welfare of the city. The contemporary application for us as a church family is obvious, as we move into this new year we if we are to grow we must acknowledge God is with us here and now and and is doing a new thing just as he has been in with us in the past.
Yet too much lamenting by exiles runs the risk of self-indulgence to the point where they become preoccupied with self. Indeed the author of Isaiah
16 Frost, Exiles, 14.
17 Beach, ‘The Church In Exile,’ 9 18 Beach, ‘The Church in Exile,’ 7
10
40-55 has to work hard to instil trust in the God of Israel as the creator of all and encourages his exiled audience sing to the Lord a New Song of Joy () They forgot their calling to be missionaries in the foreign land, to seek the welfare of the city, so caught up in the past.
The contemporary application for us as a church family is obvious, as we move into this new year we if we are to grow we must acknoweldge
The contemporary application for us as a church family is obvious, as we move into this new year we if we are to grow we must acknowledge God is with us here and now and and is doing a new thing just as he has been in with us in the past.
Now its not just church communities that can be prevented from growing because they are living in the past. The scriptures also have something to say at the individual level also, Consider what Paul has to say in
The scriptures also have something to say to something to say about this at the individual level also, When it comes to our obsessions with the past they can not only prevent us from growing into christian maturity. Consider what Paul has to say in
Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), .
Paul had achievements and failings.
The Message of Philippians b. A Single-Minded Zeal
Needless to say we are not to imagine Paul forgetting God’s past mercies—for he has, indeed, been dwelling most pointedly upon them since verse 7. Nor would he forget the valuable lessons of the past—these too have been his recent theme (verses 2–6). What, then, is this forgetting of the past which he urges with such emphasis? It is the sort of dwelling on the past that hinders our present effort and our future progress. We do well gently to remind ourselves that a bereavement can sometimes make Christians live in the past; similarly we easily harbour a persistent bitterness about past wrongs (real or supposed). There are few things that have such power to lock us into the past. Again, there is despair over past sins which, in its severest form, can make believers doubt if they will ever be forgiven or which, in less tragic forms, gives rise to defeatism and backward-looking. There are many similar things that make us like the man in Zechariah 2:1–4 who wanted to measure the ruins of Jerusalem, allowing bygone glories and past failures to decide the dimensions of the future. By contrast the progressing Christian must cultivate a concentrated forward look to where the goal lies.
The New International Version Chapter 3
But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
some reasons to move on from the past
to the point that rather than celebrating and worshipping the living god they begin to worship the gifts that God gave. Yes even Gods past gifts become idols when they prevent us from seeing what God is doing.
Paul was not forgetting God’s past mercies—for he has, indeed, been dwelling most pointedly upon them since verse Nor would he forget the valuable lessons of the past—these too have been his recent theme (verses 2–6).
Nor would he forget the valuable lessons of the past—these too have been his recent theme (verses 2–6).
The forgetting that Paul emphasises It is the sort of dwelling on the past that hinders our present effort and our future progress. These would include persistent bitterness about past wrongs (real or supposed). Despair over past sins whereby believers doubt if they will ever be forgiven giving rise to defeatism and backward-looking dispotiotion
The Message of Philippians b. A Single-Minded Zeal
There are many similar things that make us like the man in Zechariah 2:1–4 who wanted to measure the ruins of Jerusalem, allowing bygone glories and past failures to decide the dimensions of the future. By contrast the progressing Christian must cultivate a concentrated forward look to where the goal lies.
Concerning our propensity to dwell on the paste A. J motyer
These would include persistent bitterness about past wrongs (real or supposed).
Despair over past sins whereby believers doubt if they will ever be forgiven giving rise to defeatism and backward-looking.
(Example of Kiltarlity)
There are many similar things that make us like the man in who wanted to measure the ruins of Jerusalem, allowing bygone glories and past failures to decide the dimensions of the future. By contrast the progressing Christian must cultivate a concentrated forward look to where the goal lies.
Yet even Gods past gifts become idols when they prevent us from seeing what God is doing. (Example of Kiltarlity)
The Bronze Snake
The reconstruction of the temple - Gods heart. (they could not see that this was a beautiful day in Gods sight)
3)Remembering God’s activity in the past whilst not living in the past is meant to increase our appetites and expectations for the future.
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.
20 The wild animals honor me,
the jackals and the owls,
because I provide water in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland,
to give drink to my people, my chosen,
21 the people I formed for myself
that they may proclaim my praise.
When I came to Rosskeen My Dad talked about it as being a beacon in the North, a lighthouse, Others said it was not what it used to be, It has been truly wonderful to hear fo the stories of What God did here, but you know something, I am far more interested in what God is doing in your midst because I dont worship the God of the past I worship the god of eternity.
As for folks who have said to me that Rosskeen is a shadow of its former selfI it doesnt bother me. I have never been so excited to be a part of a church community as this, I see a people who will proclaim Gods praise in 2009 and beyond. Do you notice the context in which God is making a way for his people when he tells them to stop dwelling in the past. - its in the wilderness?
As for folks who have said to me that Rosskeen is a shadow of its former selfI have never been so excited to be a part of a church community. I see streams in a wasteland a people who will proclaim Gods praise in 2009
Do you notice the context in which God is making a way for his people when he tells them to stop dwelling in the past. - its in the wilderness.
Callum testimony about filling an ocean.
When I came to Rosskeen My Dad talked about it as being a beacon in the North, a lighthouse, Others said it was not what it used to be, some lovely people but a shadow of its former selfI have never been so excited to be a part of a church community. I see streams in a wasteland a people who will proclaim Gods praise in 2009
When I came to Rosskeen My Dad talked about it as being a beacon in the North, a lighthouse, Others said it was not what it used to be, some lovely people but a shadow of its former self
I have never been so excited to be a part of a church community. I see streams in a wasteland a people who will proclaim Gods praise in 2009
The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), .
When I look
Application for Individuals and Church Family
Application for Individuals and Church Family
Leave the past behind if it is not helpful. whatever is good, nobel meditate on these things.
Call to Repentance Faith And Trust In Jesus
Call to Repentance Faith And Trust In Jesus
So as we approach 2018, Have you given thanks for Gods gracious care in the past?
Am I expectant for all that God is going to do in 2019
Am Ilooking around you and praying to see what he is doing and how He is leading in our midst, or are you stuck in the past.
Am I individual level are you still living in the past and do you need to imitate Paul in 2019 forgetting what lies behind and pressing onwards to the upward call in Christ Jesus.
Are there past hurts that I need let go of and I need help to do so. Remember the power of prayer is available to you, find a christian brother or sister and have them pray for you. Letting go of the past is not easy, sometimes you need the help of Christians praying for you.
Jesus knows the hurts and struggle of the past and his desire is to help you overcome, just now Im gonna leave a minuite silence for you to bring your petitions to him and to trust in him for the forgivness of Sins
Landing
Landing
Jesus our Good shepherd we thank you for your faithfulness in 2017 and in years previous
We thank you for your presence with us tonight
Help us to listen to your voice as you lead us in 2019
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.
20 The wild animals honor me,
the jackals and the owls,
because I provide water in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland,
to give drink to my people, my chosen,
21 the people I formed for myself
that they may proclaim my praise.