10/21 Life

My Counsel Shall Stand
(ISAIAH 46:8-13)
 
Pause & Reflect
 

1. What has God been teaching you through last week’s message? Read the texts once more and discern what the holy Spirit is desiring to say through it.

 
8 “Remember this and stand firm,
    recall it to mind, you transgressors,
9     remember the former things of old;
for I am God, and there is no other;
    I am God, and there is none like me,
10 declaring the end from the beginning
    and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’
 

1. [v.8-10] *Biblical principle – DIAGNOSIS OF THE PROBLEM: As was the case for God’s ancient people, the main problem is our spiritual Alzheimer’s/dementia. The mind is corrupt and set on forgetting the LORD, impairing our thoughts and behavior. “Remember the former things of old,” says the LORD. This is not just a call to recollect what is in your memory, but what is in His Word – what He has said from the beginning. The starting-point of what we remember must be in the Creator God, among whom there is no other, declaring the end from the beginning. We, then, as His creatures, can be counseled aright. While they strenuously carried their idols on their shoulders, God’s people had forgotten that they were being carried in His arms. While they cried out to an object that could not move nor answer, God’s people had forgotten it was the LORD alone who was moving and answering them, beckoning them to listen to what He was saying. God calls us to remember Him – beyond the scope of our memory – from the very beginning of creation – “the former things of old.” From the Scriptures, what can you remember about God in what He has done, in how He created a people for Himself, in making a way to save them although they constantly turned away? How can you enlarge the framework of your memory back to creation? Are you framing your memory there or on what you can recall from personal experience alone? Alzheimer’s/dementia is a terrible disease that progressively snatches away your memory. It begins with mild memory loss and then advances to loss of all control in thought, language, and action. Yet although we lose control of all our being, the Spirit of God preserves the power to remember the LORD as He revealed Himself in Scripture. It is like the light at the end of a dark tunnel that we can never lose to see and have back. We may lose our memory, but God can never be lost within us. Are you losing your way, or finding your way by strengthening your memory in the LORD’s counsel? What are you forgetting that the LORD is calling you to remember? What do you remember about God from this past week, past month, past three months?

 
11 calling a bird of prey from the east,
    the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.
 

1. [v.11] *Biblical principle – TREATMENT PLAN: There is no self-cure to renew the corrupt mind that continues to deny remembering the LORD. Since it is part of our nature, no medicine can permanently reorient and heal the structure of our heart and thoughts. Therefore, as God sovereignly provided a future deliverer for His people from their captivity (King Cyrus of Persia), He did for us what we could never do for ourselves. He has called, spoken and purposed His own Son, Jesus Christ, to not only treat us, but transform our lives permanently to His purpose in putting to death and raising to life His own Son for our own sins yesterday, today, and forever. A bird chasing its prey is a portrait of unswerving purpose. This bird was Cyrus for God’s people then, and it is Jesus Christ for God’s people today. Jesus is the only cure to our uncurable spiritual dementia. How is Jesus not only treating you, but transforming you? How is the one whom God has called, spoken, and purposed for your life becoming your new life? Why is a personal relationship with Jesus – above and beyond any relationship in your life (spouse, parent, sibling, relative, employer/employee) – the sustaining treatment and transformation out of spiritual dementia? How is what Jesus Christ has done through the cross and resurrection a memory that cannot ever be forgotten or erased?

 
12 “Listen to me, you stubborn of heart,
    you who are far from righteousness:
13 I bring near my righteousness; it is not far off,
    and my salvation will not delay;
I will put salvation in Zion,
    for Israel my glory.”
 

1. [v.12-13] *Biblical principle – [v.12-13] FOLLOW-UP: We are permanently sealed by the holy Spirit and transformed by the work of the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ. However, it takes time and self-discipline to grow into what God has done fully and finally done, just as a child grows into becoming an adult one day. The LORD will continue to check-up on our stubborn hearts by convicting us to listen to His counsel, for it is near and not far off nor delayed. Repeatedly, we need to listen to the full counsel and collective wisdom before us in His Word. This isn’t about knowing more, but hearing more from our Wonderful Counselor (Isaiah 9:6). Are you listening? Once the problem is diagnosed (corrupt minds and hearts set on forgetting the LORD) and reframed to find a treatment (Jesus Christ who gifts us new minds and hearts set on recalling the LORD), our ears can open to listen and hear the word of the LORD constantly, daily, repeatedly as we apply the counsel of Christ into our lives. How can we be hearing but not really listening? When we really listen, is God’s counsel far or near? How can we cultivate listening to the LORD’s counsel in His word as near as it is – one way which you are doing already through this life group? How can we make listening with the intention to act upon it a spiritual habit? James 1:22-25 says, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.” Are you following-up on listening to God in what He has spoken? What action do you need to take with what you have heard and listened to?

 

 
The central truth of this word was –
“Listen to me, you stubborn of heart, you who are far from righteousness: I bring near my righteousness; it is not far off, and my salvation will not delay,” says the LORD God. Listen to the counsel of the LORD! Only His counsel shall stand! Our minds and hearts are corrupt, in denial of remembering the LORD of creation, who appears far off. Instead, we declare our own counsel to control the beginning, middle, and end of all things. Yet God in His grace has the God-man of His counsel – Jesus Christ – who reverses the corruption in ourselves to bring us into His righteousness. Listen to His words. Be treated and transformed. Keep in-step and follow Him!
– *How has the LORD spoken to you today through this?
 

Holy Spirit Moment
Take a moment to invite the Holy Spirit to fill you, and pray.
 
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 THESSALONIANS 5:16-18)
 
…do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (PHILIPPIANS 4:6-7)