May God be pleased to bless to
us our meditation this morning as we turn to the prophecy of
Isaiah and chapter 55, and we'll read verses 8, 9, 10, and 11.
The prophecy of Isaiah, chapter 55, and reading verses 8, 9,
10, and 11. For my thoughts are not your
thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For
as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher
than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the
rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not
thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and
bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater.
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall
not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which
I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. Well, as I expect most of you
know, often the prophecy of Isaiah is referred to as the gospel
of Isaiah. And the reality is that there
is much glorious gospel That really means good news to unworthy
sinners and it's good news for us today to think that we have
such a God, such a gracious God, such a merciful God who condescends
to look upon us, who knows all about us. In fact he knows all
about us and understands us better than we know about ourselves
or understand ourselves and this is because we have such a great,
glorious and wonderful God how little we seem to appreciate
the wonder of our God and yet it's a great mercy if you and
I can look into our lives and appreciate and understand and
acknowledge how God has been gracious to us. We're born in this world. We're
born in this world sinners. We don't deserve any notice from
Almighty God. And yet to think that such a
God is gracious, and does look upon us and does come to us and
does deal with us in love to our souls is really quite amazing
and yet it is a very true and glorious fact and so today as
we read together those few verses in the 107th Psalm and this 55th
chapter of Isaiah, to realize how glorious is God's Word. And it is important to realize
how glorious God's Word is. And so this 8th verse commences
with a very wonderful truth. Because here we have God speaking. Isaiah was the messenger in this
glorious message and this is what he says for my thoughts,
that means God's thoughts are not your thoughts and that's
good to just ponder, isn't it? we have many thoughts, don't
we? and we have many thoughts perhaps which we hope will come
to pass perhaps expect to come to pass And yet, you see, they
don't. And we may wonder, well, why
is that? Very simply, it is because they're
not God's thoughts. And the blessing is that God's
thoughts toward us are far better than our thoughts. Because God
knows all about our life. He knows what the future is for
our lives. And you and I don't know what
that is. Sometimes I think of that very
wonderful word the Lord Jesus spoke to his disciples in that
upper room and they of course were believers because when the
Lord spoke those words Judas Iscariot had gone out to prepare
to betray the Lord Jesus Christ and so he was there with the
eleven disciples And he spoke within those 14th, 15th, 16th
and 17th chapters of John, beautiful words, beautiful sermon. But
he tells us this in the 16th verse, ye have not chosen me. You see, we never would naturally. We never would. You may say,
well, why wouldn't I want to choose God? Because you would
realise that God speaks things that we don't really want to
know about we don't want to obey we want to please ourselves and
enjoy our lives in accordance with our way just like this God's
thoughts are not our thoughts our thoughts are not in accord
with God and yet God's thoughts are higher than ours and so he
says this you have not chosen me but I have chosen you and
that's the glory of the gospel and that's exceedingly humbling
just again think of that for a moment that God who created
all things, that God is in control of the billions of people living
on the earth at this time. This great almighty God has chosen
such little unworthy sinners as you and me. It's worth thinking
about, isn't it? to consider how great God is. What a wonderful God we have
then. And so we have this word here,
ye have not chosen me. You and I will soon understand
that if the Lord works in our hearts that we didn't choose
God, but I have chosen you and Not just to laze around, not
just to occupy our lives with sinful things and just go around
pleasing ourselves. No. He tells us the reason for
that. And this is the reason. He has
ordained us. That means there's something
He has prepared for you and me to be involved with. For you
and me to do. He has ordained us. And he tells
us that you should go and bring forth fruit. That means the evidence
of God's work in our souls, for his honor and for his glory,
and that your fruit should remain. That whatsoever you should ask
of the Father in my name, he may give it you. See, that is
a glorious word. Remember, it's the words of Jesus
speaking to his disciples and the words of Jesus speaking to
us today. What a wonderful, gracious and
glorious Saviour therefore we have. Well, it says, these words
for my thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways
my ways, saith the Lord. And again, as we look at our
ways, we realise that we have very, very different. Our ways
are now perhaps to what they were. You know, we had our plans
in our lives. All of us, no doubt. When we
were young and little, perhaps children, and then grew up to
teenagers and then perhaps to adults, and we grew up and we
became older and older. And I wonder, could you just
stop Howard putting his money in the box? It's a bit disturbing. We grow up and we grow up. And
to think that we have a God who has better thoughts for you and
me than we have for ourselves. And the reason is, you see, God
knows the end from the beginning. And God knows whether there is
a glorious future for us in heaven. A glorious future. And we pray,
therefore, that if we indeed are able to look forward to such
a wonderful future, it'll put things in a right perspective. God's ways, therefore, indeed,
are glorious. And so, as the Prophet goes on
and he tells us, for as the heavens are higher than the earth. So are my ways higher than your
ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. And again, if we just
think of that in a broad way, to realize that you and I have
very narrow vision. Naturally, our vision is concentrated
on the things of time. Our little life on this earth,
that's what our minds are concentrated upon. But you see, God looks
beyond the things of time. God looks upon us with eternity
in view, to that wonderful inheritance, which is incorruptible and undefiled. And therefore, indeed, as the
heavens are higher than the earth, his ways are higher than our
ways. And what are these higher ways? I believe the higher ways are
very simply stated in this truth, the Lord Jesus Christ, is high
and lifted up. What a glorious, wonderful truth
it is to think that by the grace of God, one day, one day when
we have finished our life on this earth, it will be to go
and to be with Christ, which is far better, and to then enter
in to that inheritance which God has prepared for us. It's good when you and I come
to that position and realise that this is such a wonder. It is beyond our natural mind
to recognise how great and how glorious this is. And it comes
back then to the very simple truth stated here, my thoughts
are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. You see,
if our thoughts, we were left to our thoughts and we left to
our ways, you know, we would never turn to the Lord. We might turn perhaps in just
a casual way, but it wouldn't be wholehearted. It wouldn't be with a real desire
to serve the Lord. It wouldn't be with a real concern
that the Lord God might indeed be lifted up and honoured and
glorified. No, we would just carry on muddling
along, really, in this poor, sinful world. Well, you know,
I read together 107th Psalm again. It's a wonderful, wonderful psalm. It's a very glorious truth which
we read. I would have read it all, but
it's a bit long, so I thought I wouldn't. I'd just read those
first nine verses. But really, the verse which captures
it together really is verse 7. And in just a few words, you
see, again, it's good to realise how concise the Word of God is. It's good again just sometimes
to read a verse and realise that the words selected by God are
so beautifully put together. If you and I were asked to explain
a situation, we'd be much more worthy But the Lord God is very
concise. And therefore in the seventh
verse, he tells us this great truth. And he, that means God,
led them, well in this case it was referring to the Israelites,
but it's really referring to all the true Church of God, who
are all, if you like, Israelites. And he led them forth by the
right way, that they might go to a city of habitation. Well, of course, naturally, they
were led through the wilderness. Naturally, they came into the
promised land of Canaan. But spiritually, the Lord still
today, he leads his people in the right way, which is through
the wilderness of this world. And you may say, you young people
may say, well, I don't think this world's a wilderness. Well, we're told Jacob. Jacob was converted, as you know,
he was the son of Isaac. And we're told about him, and
this is what we're told. God found him in a desert land,
in the waste-howling wilderness. He led him about. He instructed
him and he kept him as the apple of his eye. Now that was true
in the case of Jacob. The wonderful blessing is it's
true in the case of all the children of God. To think that God found
us. God knew where we were. ever
since we were born and he watched over us we didn't
realize it we didn't recognize it and yet how true it was he
watched over Jacob for many years and we know of course that Jacob
went out to find a wife and he wandered across and eventually
God appeared for him very wonderfully and gloriously. You can read
the account of his life in Genesis and it's worth reading and worth
pondering and seeing how God appeared Gloriously for Jacob,
it wasn't an easy life. God doesn't promise us an easy
life. But God does tell us as he spoke to Moses, these words,
my presence shall go with thee and I will give thee rest. Moses had a life before him. when that answer was given to
him. You and I have our life before
us. Some of us are old, we don't know how long before us, but
nonetheless, we still need God to be with us. We still need
God to lead us. And so, as the psalmist says
here, God led them forth by the right way. And that right way
is different for every one of God's children. There is, if
you like, a common thread. And perhaps you might say, well,
what is that common thread? Well, I'll tell you what it is.
When the Lord comes and leads us, The first thing he does is
to show us our need of him, to show us that we are indeed a
sinner, to show us that we need a saviour. And then what a glorious,
wonderful revelation it is when we are led By the Spirit of God,
and don't forget this, the Lord leads us, as he led the Israelites,
he leads you and me today. We don't wander along aimlessly. We may sometimes think it looks
like that, but no, it's not. God leads us, and therefore he
leads us to the Saviour. to realise that, as Jonah said
very gloriously, salvation is of the Lord. And he didn't come
to that knowledge just very simply. He came to that in a painful
way. And yet you see, God had love
towards Jonah. And what a blessing it is to
realise that God has a love toward us. And if he does, then you see
this word will be so true. He led them forth, he leads you,
he leads me forth by the right way. And the reason is this,
to bring us at last they might go to a city of habitation. The purpose of God's leading
is to bring us to that glorious city of God, heaven at last. Oh, let us rejoice in the greatness
of our God. And to think of that, what does
he do? The Spirit of God leads us to the Saviour, the Lord Jesus
Christ, and to show to us this great truth, Jesus is the one
thing needful. I without him perish must. What a mercy then, if Jesus comes
and touches our hearts, and we find there is something attractive,
a beauty, in Christ. Naturally, we don't see any beauty
in Christ, but what a mercy it is when we do. Now then, The Psalmist David, who we think
wrote the 107th Psalm, wrote most of the Psalms, and he was
led by the blessed Spirit of God. And David didn't have an
easy life. You may think, well, he was a
king. Yes, but he had many things to oppose him. And of course,
he also had, like you and I, to a sinful heart, to lead him
astray. What a blessing it is then to
have a great and wonderful God. Now, David knew the reality of
true religion. And this is what he's able to
tell us in the 139th Psalm, in verse 17. Just meditate on this. How precious also are thy thoughts,
that's God's thoughts, unto me, O God." To David, yes, but to
every individual born again by the Spirit of God, surely it's
a good meditation to realise how precious, that means how
valuable, are God's thoughts unto you and
me. No wonder, David goes on to say,
how great is the sum of them, if I should count them, they
are more in number than the sand. Yes, God's thoughts toward us
are innumerable, aren't they? How wonderful how glorious it
is for you and me today to be able to ponder the reality of
these things to think and to experience the reality of them
because a real religion although in one sense you might say it's
abstract but in another sense it's very personal to you and
me as the Holy Spirit conveys to our soul the reality of true
religion and reveals to us the blessing of the Saviour, the
Lord Jesus Christ. And to recognise that that which
the scripture explains to us in detail of the Saviour's life
and his death and resurrection and ascension and intercession
were all performed for our individual and our collective benefit. To think that God deals with
us personally as sons and daughters of the Most High God. His thoughts,
His thoughts, Not our thoughts, no. But that God's thoughts,
which are far better than our thoughts. Because God knows all
about us. He knows what's before us. Do
you know this? Let me just say this. You may
think, well how ever am I going to persevere? How ever am I going
to hold on my way? The scripture has the answer.
And what's the answer? The answer's this. He, God, giveth
more grace. He gives us his grace to endure. And to endure for how long? For
a few days? For a few weeks? For a few months? Until the end. That's the word of truth. That's
the word of God. That's the promise of God. And
you see, the Lord God never lies. And we can rely, therefore, upon
God's word. Well then, says the prophet here,
for my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways.
My way, saith the Lord, And if you just stop for a moment and
just think, well, what has God done for me? Has he taken hold
of me? Has he changed my course? Has he changed the direction
that I were walking in? Perhaps the direction that I
was running in? And what was that? Away from
God. Well, what a blessing when God
turns our feet to run the opposite way. His way, not our way. What a mercy. What a mercy that
is. Why? Because of his love. toward us. Very humbling, isn't it? To think
of. So, to think then that God's
ways are not our ways, but God's ways are better than our ways. The Word of God has a very encouraging
statement. To submit ourselves under the
mighty hand of God, that He may exalt us in due time, casting
all our care upon Him, because He cares for us. Wonderful, isn't
it? To think of that. See, that's
the glory of the Gospel. And that's what you and I should
really rejoicing. For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, that's why the Lord gives us such an evidence
like this. A lovely picture, isn't it? For
you and me today to think, how high are the heavens? You look
up in the sky. You can't see how high the heavens
are, are they? They're beyond us. Infinite, infinity. For us, the heavens are higher
than the earth. So, says God, are my ways higher
than your ways? See, our ways are very constricted. You may say, why are they constricted? They're constricted because we're
little humans. And we can only think, really,
as humans think. But it's good when God gives
us faith to believe the glorious truth of God's Word and to understand
what he said. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again. receive you unto myself where
you are there where I am there you will be also what a wonderful
glorious truth such words are so you see God's thoughts are
far higher than our thoughts because God's thoughts will always
lead you and me to the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. And the psalmist tells us, my
meditation of Him shall be sweet. That's a good statement, isn't
it? It's good for you and me if we can, as it were, meditate
on the great and glorious work of the Saviour, and then to have
that work wonderfully applied and directed to us, into our
own hearts, for our own life, and to have the blessed privilege
and understanding that Christ Jesus, my Lord, died on Calvary's
cross to redeem me from all my sins. What a wonderful, wonderful
gospel we have. Well, you know, I read the next
two verses really, because it just gives us a better picture. And so the prophet says, for
as the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven, we understand
that, don't we? We see the rain and we see the
snow from heaven, and returneth not there, they can't go back,
But watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that
it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater. So shall
my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth, the word of God,
as he applies his word to our souls. As we read it, sometimes
it's as though it stands out. And you think, wow, what a wonderful
statement. What a wonderful truth. What
does it do? It encourages us. It strengthens us. And we can
say with David, how love I thy word. It is my meditation all
the day. What did it do to David? What does it do today to us? We read it in the beginning of
this psalm. We're thirsting. And so the prophet tells us,
however one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, come ye to
the blessed, glorious Saviour. He's the fountain of all good. What a mercy it is when we hear
His glorious voice, His glorious invitation. And as we read in
the third verse, incline your ear, listen to what the Lord's
speaking as you read the word. Don't just gloss over it, read
it. Incline your ear to what God's
speaking. Come unto me here and your soul
shall live. That's the great and glorious,
important consideration to know that our soul is alive. And if our soul is alive, it's
alive forevermore. That's the truth of the gospel. He says here, you see, incline
your ear and come unto me. Here in your soul shall live
and I will make an everlasting covenant. Yes, a sworn conditional
promise really is a definition of a covenant. A sworn conditional
promise. And that promise is the gift
of everlasting life which cannot be taken away. And I will make
an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of
David. What wonderful truths there are
in the word of God. How often we fail to take them
in. How often we fail to understand
them. and often the reason is that
we're so occupied with all the things of time that we read the
verse, we read the word we read a chapter, our mind's gone what
a blessing though if the Lord gives us an understanding heart
so that the Lord applies his word
to our soul So it is life. Yes, it's not a dead word. It's
a living word. And we can rejoice in it and
understand. So shall my word be that goeth
forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void. That's God's promise. But it shall accomplish that
which I please. You see, the Lord accomplishes
what He pleases. And again, come back to this
realisation, the Lord knows what He's doing with us. And He knows
what we need. Not what we think we need. How
often we are furnished and we think we need this and we need
that. God knows. It's better to come in a cast
to all our care, all our burdens, upon the Lord, because He knows
what we need. And so, as the prophet says,
and shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish
that which I please. It will establish us in the things
of God. It will indeed guide and direct
us in that right way. and shall prosper in the thing
whereto I sent it. God sends his word into our heart,
into our soul, so that by God's grace we shall, and we do, grow
in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus
Christ. What an evidence of God's love
toward us when he reveals to our hearts the work and the love and the
mercy and the compassion of our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. What think ye of Christ is the
test. That's the test, my friends.
of the reality of religion. What do we think of Christ? You
know, you and I can know all the Word of God. We can recite
all the Word of God from Genesis to Revelation. But unless we
know Christ, we are eternally lost. What a blessing, therefore,
today, if we do indeed know the Savior. Yes, as that great and
glorious God. You know, you have that book
of Job, which is a book which is not read very often. And,
well, it's not always easy to understand, but if you just ponder
the life of Job. See, Job was a very wealthy man
to begin with, everything he needed. And God shows us how
he dealt with Job. Job lost virtually everything. He was taken away from him, his
family, his goods, he lost virtually everything. His friends came and sat by him
and talked to him and told him where he was wrong. Didn't really
encourage him very much. But you know, in that time of,
as you might say, great affliction, God came to him in various ways. And among other things, he was
able to tell us great truths like, I know that my Redeemer
liveth. Yes. And he was able to say that
I shall see him with his eyes. God revealed those great truths
to him. And he came down, if you go towards
the right end of Job, he says a number of things, but one of
the things he said, behold, I am vile. Didn't think he was a great,
good person. Behold, in the sight of God,
he was vile. Yes, but you see, God dealt with
him in love to his soul and enabled him to testify of these great
truths. Then Job answered the Lord, the
last chapter, and said, I know that thou canst do everything,
and that no thought can be withholden from thee. Who is he that hideth
counsel without knowledge? Therefore have I uttered that
I understood not. Sometimes we furnishly say things, things too wonderful for me,
which I knew not. Here I beseech thee, and I will
speak, I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. I have
heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye
seeth thee. The eye of faith to view thy
blessed Saviour. And therefore, what does he say
now? Wherefore, I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes. Well, that was that's the really
the last view we have of Job. And yet as the last verses in
that chapter go on, we're told how the Lord wonderfully blessed
Job. And we're told in the Lord turned
the captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends. Also,
the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. You see, my
friends, the Lord is a deserter, no man. And the Lord wonderfully
and gloriously blessed Job. And so we know that today we
worship the same God. I know that you and I may prove
it again and again and understand the words that we've read here
for a text this morning in this blessed chapter, the 51st chapter
of Isaiah, and rejoice in the grand and glorious truths that
it contains, that his name may be lifted up and honoured and
glorified, and our souls eternally blessed. Amen.