Sermons
June 27th, 2022 by Pastor Solley062622AM Wings As Eagles
Sub. God
Theme: Mounting up with God.
Text: Isa 40:28-31
“Wings As Eagles” Isaiah 40:28-31
Introduction
It seems to me that the messages of late that the Holy Spirit has been placing upon my heart have pointed to the heightened spiritual battle we find ourselves in today and challenges to stand up and be what we claim to be as Christians and disciples of Jesus Christ. There is a need today for men and women of God to stand up for truth, to stand up for Christ, to be what we claim to be. We do need to thank the Lord and praise His name for two Supreme Court decisions handed down this past week. We are allowed under our rugged constitution to protect ourselves from harm and danger. And more important the murder of the most innocent in America is no longer the law of the land. Praise and thank the Lord that people had the courage to make a right decision on Roe vs Wade. But those decisions do not mean the battle is over. They have inflamed those under Satanic influence and possessed by demons. So today we need once more to answer the call to stand up for Jesus, to stand up for truth, to be men and women of God who are not ashamed.
I. I want to bring a message this morning titled “Wings as Eagles” Isa 40:28-31 Many people are familiar with verse 31 of our text this morning. – Isa 40:31 – If one has a very limited knowledge of the Bible they most likely have heard this verse or are familiar with it. -Isa 40:31 – But just because one may have heard this verse or may be familiar with this verse does not mean they understand it.
A. I have heard this verse used in a number of different ways over the years: I have heard professional athletes refer to this verse in interviews. I have heard political leaders refer to this verse. I have heard this verse used in movies about sports or sports figures as well as war movies over the years. It is a verse many are familiar with or have heard. But knowing this verse does not mean one is understanding what the Bible is telling us here.
1. Is God promising to give the athlete strength to win the contest if they wait on Him? I have heard Isa 40:31 used in that context.
2. Is God promising to give an army victory if they wait on Him? I have heard Isa 40:31 used in that context.
3. Is God promising to give the politician the office if they wait on Him? I have heard Isa 40:31 used in that context.
4. Many familiar with the verse do not understand the teaching of the passage or the verse:
B. But God is making a promise here and a precious promise: Isa 40:31 And I believe it is a promise we can claim today. We as born again believers in Christ can claim this precious promise and it is one we need, one I need today. – Isa 40:31 – But what does it mean to mount up with wings as eagles and how can that be realized in our lives today?
II. First, some context to the passage and why it was given at that time: Israel was going through some very dark and troubling times in the day that Isaiah lived. This account occurs just about one hundred years before the complete fall of the nation. – Isa 40:27 Before you get to mounting up on eagles wings you need to see what condition the nation and the people were in. They thought God had left them completely. – Isa 40:27 – Isaiah was a prophet to the southern kingdom of Judah. The northern kingdom had already fallen by the time chapter 40 was given.
A. The people believed, and with good reason it seemed, that all hope was gone and God had left them: Some hope was held out by the southern kingdom. They had some good kings who led revivals. But they were outdone by evil kings leading the people away from Jehovah and into idol worship. Israel was turning completely away from Jehovah God.
1. Isaiah chapter 40 them becomes a challenge for the people and provides a way back to Jehovah: If they would follow after the Lord, follow the direction given to them by the prophet the promise would be theirs. – Isa 40:31 It was a promise they needed.
2. So for Israel this promise does come with a challenge, one to get back to the Lord: But would they answer God’s call?
B. We are certainly going through some very dark and troubling times today: As a nation, families, many churches, we are certainly going through some dark and troubling times today. Many are thinking today just what Israel thought. – Isa 40:27
1. So we also find in that promise to Israel a promise that we need today: Isa 40:31
2. But are we willing to stand up and accept the challenge of God that we will find in this passage: That decisions is yours and mine..
PROP: Is it your desire to mount up on eagles wings today? TS. Then we need to be more than familiar with the verse and the promise, we need to know and follow the teaching.Body
I. The first thing God calls for Israel to do and the first thing we need to do is look back, to remember: Isa 40:27 Beginning with verse one of chapter forty God is calling for them to look back, to remember. They thought their way was hid from God because they had forgotten important truths and God called for them to remember. – Isa 40:1 – What then were they to remember? What was so important for them to remember in those troubling times?
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A. Remember promises already given: Isa 40:3-5 The voice in the wilderness is the voice of John the Baptist which would not be heard until over three hundred years after this was given through Isaiah. But understand John the Baptist gave no new promises. The promises we find in Isaiah were already given. – Isa 40:4 – John the Baptist gave no new promises.
1. Not to take time to do it this morning, but if you go back to Genesis 12 and write down the promises given to Israel you will find that John the Baptist gave no new promises when he came on the scene: John only pointed to the one who could fulfill the promises.
2. Israel was to remember the promises already given: Isa 40:11
B. Remember the power of Almighty God, of the God you know and the God who knows you: Isa 40:8-15 Not only did Israel forget the promises of God but they forgot who God is.
1. He is the eternal God and His Word will stand forever: Isa 40:8
2. He is the God who can take all fear away: Isa 40:9
3. He is the God who can defeat the enemy: Isa 40:10
4. He is the God who has power and authority over all: Isa 40:12
5. He is a God that needs no counsel: Isa 40:13-14
6. He is a God above all: Isa 40:15
C. Israel was called to remember and we need to remember the very same things today in distressing and troubling times: People have too short of memories today. Like Israel we tend to forget and think that God has forgotten us or passed us by. – Isa 40:27
1. So we need to stop and remember promises that have been given to us, promises made to us: Every promise in the book is mine…
a. Remember the promise of His abiding presence, of His provision, of His protection, of His everlasting love.
b. God will not break His promises to us because it is impossible for God to lie.
2. And we need to remember who God is: God is over all, has authority over all, does not bow to anyone
3. And we need to remember God has authority over all:
D. The first things we need to do is remember:
II. Israel was then reminded that they could do nothing on their own, nothing apart from God and neither can we: Isa 40:28-29
They are here reminded that Jehovah is the everlasting God, that strength needs to come from the Lord and will never be found in self. Not the strength needed to stand in the spiritual battles they were in or the ones we are in.
A. Israel got to a pint I believe that they thought themselves bullet proof: They got to a point in their thinking that because they were the chosen people of God that nothing could happen to them.
1. Is that what they were thinking when they sent a smaller part of the army to fight against Ai and did not consult the Lord: They lost that battle when they wrongly thought nothing could happen to them because of the victory over Jericho.
2. Is that what they were thinking when they took the ark of the Lord into battle against the Philistines apart from the presence of the Lord: Not only did they lose the battle but they lost the ark as well.
3. They needed a reminder that they needed the Lord, that they were not bullet proof:
B. We also tend to think from time to time that we are bullet proof, that we can get by on our own: That is a very dangerous mind set.
1. Remember what Jesus said about us and our abilities: Jn 15:5 This brothers and sisters in Christ we need to be reminded of often.
Ill. In worldly things we often think nothing can happen to us. We will never be in an accident, we will never get sick and so on…It is extremely dangerous to adopt that thinking is spiritual matters.
2. Satan is always on the hunt for the one who thinks he can get by on his or her own: 1 Cor 10:11-13 We are not the one who can make a way of escape, only the Lord.
3. Never forget that we can do nothing without Him: This especially true in our spiritual battles.
C. Israel was then reminded that they could do nothing on their own, nothing apart from God and neither can we: Isa 40:28-29
III. Then a picture of those who had fainted, were weary and fell: Isa 40:30 Just one verse before the one most people are familiar with, the one in which those who wait upon the Lord mount up on eagles wings, those who run and are not weary, those who do not faith, we find fainting, weary and falling ones. – Isa 40:30
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A. Who are these faint, weary and falling ones? Isa 40:30 The Bible says youths and young men. There is a difference.
1. The Hebrews word for youths can be used for a boy or girl from birth to young adulthood: The implication here is that it is a strong young man. One who is active, one who will not wear down or wear out.
a. This same Hebrew word is used of the young men who were sent to spy out the city of Jericho in Judges 6.
b. This same Hebrew word is used of the one who carried the armor of King Saul in 1 Sam 14:1
c. It is one who is young, strong, capable. One who should not faint or become weary in a task.
2. The Hebrew word for young men is one word and it means one who is choice or selected for a task: Isa 40:30 This is not just a face in the crowd, it is one chosen and selected because of ability.
a. This is the word used of the armies of Pharaoh in Ex 14:7 when he pursued Israel into the Red Sea. It was the best of his army.
b. It is the word used of the army Rehoboam gathered in the south when the kingdom split. He gathered a strong force.
c. This points to chosen and selected warriors who were capable of wining a fight.
3. These are special and chosen ones who faint, become weary and fall: Isa 40:30
B. Israel has a history of just those types of men fainting, becoming weary and falling when they were not walking with the Lord: The reason being that they could do nothing on their own, nothing apart from Jehovah God.
1. They defeated Jericho so they didn’t need the Lord when they went to overthrow Ai: Their young and chosen men fell.
2. They took the Ark of God but where without the presence of God when they faced the Philistines: The young chosen ones fell.
3. The sons of Eli were chosen priests and they fell in the same battle: The young chosen ones fell.
3. King Saul was head and shoulders above all: And he fell in the fight. The young chosen one had fallen.
4. Ahab fooled all and he escaped the fray: But wait, a man shot an arrow at a venture and the chosen one fell.
5. Israel was reminded that they could do nothing on their own, nothing apart from Jehovah God:
C. There are some strong spiritual men and women among us this morning: But that does not mean we cannot fall in the battle we are in. We need to be reminded of that more today that we ever have. Satan has increased his attack on all that is of God and we need the power of Jesus upon us today more than we ever have I believe.
1. We are in a great spiritual conflict: 2 Cor 10:3-5 We are not waiting for the war to start, it is full blown.
a. The Supreme Court did two things this week that every born again child of God should be praising God for.
(1) The Roe VS Wade murder decision is gone praise God.
(2) We have the right to be armed and defend ourselves against bodily harm praise God.
b. I hope you lifted your voice in praise and thanks to God on both Thursday and Friday. Praise God today.
2. But the battle is not over and we need to lift our voices to God for power in Christ: The battle is not over and Satan will continue his relentless attack on America, on our churches, on our families and on our young people.
3. Satan will of course attack the weak: A lion on the hunt most often looks for the weakest of the herd.
4. But Satan most especially looks to topple the strong ones: Isa 40:30 In this verse it is the youths and young men, the choice ones, the able ones.
a. When David fell it had an impact on the entire nation.
b. How man were effected when Peter denied the Lord.
5. Satan wants to topple the strong, the capable ones, the chosen ones:
D. Then a picture of those who had fainted, were weary and fell: Isa 40:30
IV. Now to mount up on eagles wings: Isa 40:31 This is the verse that people are familiar with, what they want to claim, the verse with promise. But how can it become a reality in our lives? – Isa 40:31 – What is it to wait upon the Lord? That is the key here, but what is it to wait upon the Lord.
A. Some of the Bible versions change the word wait to hope in Isa 40:31: The reason I know that is looking for images for the bulletin I will type in the verse I want and more than one Bible version will be given. I need to look for the KJB verse. I don’t read others versions or study out of others versions. Why replace something that is perfect with something inferior?
1. The versions claim to change words to make the Bible easier to read and understand: Changing the word wait to hope in no way makes this verse easier to read or understand. – Isa 40:31
2. But changing the word wait to hope does change the whole meaning of the verse: Hope is defined as a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen. That is not what the word wait means in this verse. The word wait does not mean a feeling of expectation of desire for a certain thing to happen.
3. Changing the word wait to hope changes the entire meaning of the verse:
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B. The Hebrew word translated wait in our text verse means to be bound to something or someone: Isa 40:31 It does not mean to wait as we would think of waiting on someone but to be bound to that one with a cord. The idea is that one is bound with a cord to the Lord, a cord that is not to be broken.
1. We are not hoping upon the Lord in this verse, we are bound to the Lord with a strong cord: That gives depth to the meaning of some other verses where this Hebrew word is used.
a. Ps 27:14 Don’t change the Bible and don’t change what the Bible says. But I could read this verse this way “Be bound to the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: be bound, I say, on the Lord.” Don’t change the Bible but I could read it that way because the Hebrew word wait means to be bound to.
b. Ps 37:9 Don’t change the Bible and don’t change what the Bible says. But I could read this verse this way “For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that who are bound to the Lord, they shall inherit the earth.” Don’t change the Bible but that is what it means.
2. So then I find that those who are bound to the Lord shall mount up with wings as eagles: Isa 40:31 Not those who say they know Him, say they love Him, say they walk with Him, those who are bound to Him.
C. The problem with Israel was they would never bind themselves to the Lord: And so they felt as if God had left them. – Isa 40:27 But the problem was they would never bind themselves to Jehovah, never wait on the Lord.
1. As soon as they left Egypt they began to look back with longing eyes: They were not bound to the Lord.
2. They wanted a king to be like all the other nations: They were not bound to the Lord.
3. They persecuted the prophets: They were not bound to the Lord.
4. They denied and rejected Jesus: They were not bound to the Lord.
5. This promise has yet to be fulfilled in Israel because they have refused to be bound to the Lord: Isa 40:31
D. Are you willing to be bound to Jesus Christ today? Isa 40:31 I do believe we can claim this promise. This was given to Israel but I believe any blood washed, blood bought believer in Jesus Christ can claim it if we are willing to be bound to Him? But are we willing to be bound to Jesus today?
1. Some here today are more bound to the smart phone than they are to Jesus Christ: They spend more time with it, more time looking at the little scene than they do in prayer or reading the Bible. They choose to be bound to the smart phone.
2. Some here today are more bound to family than they are to Jesus Christ: Jesus always comes first, unless there is a family event, unless they have company, unless they have to watch kids, unless the kids have something else to do. They are more bound to family than they are to Jesus.
3. Some here today are more bound to hobbies than they are to Jesus Christ: Sunday is the golf tournament, or the race, or the game. Some are bound more to hobbies than they are to Jesus Christ.
4. Some here today are just more bound to self than they are to Jesus Christ: I will just do what I feel like doing. No reason to seek the will of God, only my will matters to me. If that causes me to neglect the Lord or the church or service for the Lord then so be it.
5. Who are you bound to today? What are you bound to today?
E. Whatever you are bound to, whoever you are bound to, will it do this for you? Isa 40:31 Who are you bound to today? You are by the way bound to somebody or something. Who are you bound to?
1. If not to Jesus than moist likely to Satan: Even a Christian can be bound to Satan. They are called carnal Christians.
2. If not to Jesus than to Satan and if not to Satan than to self and self will: Those ones also are called carnal Christian.
3. The sad part of this is that they never experience the promise that is set before them: Isa 40:31 For this to be true one needs to be bound to Jesus Christ.
F. Think of these men: Enoch, Noah, David, Daniel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, John, Peter, Paul. What do they have in common? Two things.
1. They were bound to the Lord:
2. They all walked in this promise: Isa 40:31
G. Think of these men: Samson, King Saul, Demas, and many others. What do they have in common?
1. They were never truly bound to the Lord:
2. They never walked in this promise:
H. Who are you bound to today?
Conclusion
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I. The first thing God calls for Israel to do and the first thing we need to do is look back, to remember: Isa 40:27 Beginning with verse one of chapter forty God is calling for them to look back, to remember. They thought their way was hid from God because they had forgotten important truths and God called for them to remember. – Isa 40:1 – What then were they to remember? What was so important for them to remember in those troubling times?
II. Israel was then reminded that they could do nothing on their own, nothing apart from God and neither can we: Isa 40:28-29
They are here reminded that Jehovah is the everlasting God, that strength needs to come from the Lord and will never be found in self. Not the strength needed to stand in the spiritual battles they were in or the ones we are in.
III. Then a picture of those who had fainted, were weary and fell: Isa 40:30 Just one verse before the one most people are familiar with, the one in which those who wait upon the Lord, those who mount up on eagles wings, those who run and are not weary, those who do not faith, we find fainting, weary and falling ones. – Isa 40:30
IV. Now to mount up on eagles wings: Isa 40:31 This is the verse that people are familiar with, what they want to claim, the verse with promise. But how can it become a reality in our lives? – Isa 40:31 – What is it to wait upon the Lord? That is the key here, but what is it to wait upon the Lord.