True Satisfaction

you're here. The refuge is a safe place. The refuge is a place that you can be real. It's a place that you can confess things and not be judged and I'm gonna confess something to you this morning that might call some of you to lose some respect for your pastor. I'm going to confess something this morning that really might even jeopardize my man card. But I'm in a season of my life that I probably watch more HGTV than I do ESPN. I know that's a shocking confession to some of you and it's out there now and I've put it out there. I was really timid about doing that but it's the reality of where I am because there's something to me that is so satisfying about seeing a dilapidated old house restored and revealed and turned into this amazing place. I just dig it. I really enjoy that. My Instagram now, the algorithm of my Instagram keeps popping this stuff up where I can't get enough of it but people buying stuff and refurbishing it and you know turning stuff into like this these beautiful boats or campers or houses or whatever it might be. I mean I just started following this couple. They bought a house for $5,000. Yeah, you heard me right. They bought an entire house for $5,000 and it's one of those things where you go. The only thing you can do with this is just bulldoze it. Just like take it to the ground. There's nothing of value here and they're turning it in. I can't wait to see the finished product. They're turning it into this incredible, incredible home. There's these two guys. I started following on Instagram. They're from Ohio. It's called WV detailing and they go around the country and they find these abandoned automobiles, abandoned classic cars, abandoned expensive cars that have been stuck in a garage for decades. And they pull those cars out of the garage and they clean them up and they refurbish them, get them running again and they give them back to the owners. And there's just something about it that's addictive to me that's so satisfying to watch. It has felt like today I probably should just invite you into my addiction. So turn your attention to the screens and watch, watch what happens to these cars. Check this out. I got here it is. Oh my god, a real 1963 split window in a barn. I think that this is the most beautiful car that's ever been made. This car is just incredible. Rick went from a Volvo to this. When he bought it,

he didn't buy it because it was the coolest car in the world. He didn't buy it because he needed a compensating car, you know, to make him look hot. He bought it because he loved it. He fell in love with her and had to get rid of the Volvo and stepped up just a bit. Rick was like this living legend that I wanted to meet. This car, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer three years ago and it was already very advanced. And so he went through two chemo treatments. It came up that they wanted him to take a third round of chemo. Rick decided that he was going to sell his car to pay for the chemo. That was gut wrenching for him because this was his baby. The medical team finally said, "Hey, chemo's not going to help." Another round of chemo, it's not going to help. You're not going to get any better. And so he said, "Well, then I'll be comfortable until I die." And I'm not selling her. He did not want to watch her leave. He was an incredible, incredible human being. He did so many things in his life. If I had to describe him, the way I would describe Rick is he saw what he wanted. He found an avenue to do it. He counted the cost and he did it. And when he died, I asked him, I said, "Is there anything that you wish you had done?" And he said, "No." He said, "I've lived the life I wanted to live. I chose it and I live where I, what I wanted to live. I did what I wanted to do and I had a good life." And now that you've seen this car and it's being restored, comment what you think it's worth. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -We're back with Lori, who hasn't seen the car yet, and we're about to open up the garage and show you Rick's car all cleaned up for the first time in 20 years. -Okay, yeah. I really am. -All right, let's do it. -Holy smokes. Oh, my gosh. -Who knew the paint was so beautiful under all that dust? -Oh, look at her lines. -What do you think Rick would think?

-Oh, my gosh. He'd be so proud. -Oh! Yes! Yes! Oh, my gosh! -That's what I'm talking about. Isn't that amazing? I just love seeing that. I can't get enough of it. And the reason I wanted to show you that video today is because that's exactly what God does with you and I. We're going to talk about that this morning. We're going to go to the book of Isaiah. We're in Isaiah chapter 53 and chapter 54. I want to invite you to stand this morning and as you're standing, as you're going there on your device or in your Bible, I want to remind you that we are in a Bible reading program together to read the Bible through, cover to cover in a two-year period. And the fourth quarter of the Old Testament begins this week. And so you can pick up the fourth quarter reading plan at the info desk this morning. It'll be on the app starting October the first when this plan begins. And I want to encourage you, if you're new, if you've come in the last few months, jump in with us and daily read Scripture. We've made it very, very easy for you. We're looking this morning in Isaiah chapter 53, beginning in verse 3. And I want to talk to you about true satisfaction.

The prophet Isaiah righte was despised and rejected. A man of sorrows acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised and we did not care. Yet it was our weaknesses that he carried. It was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins. But he was pierced for our rebellion crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. All of us like sheep have strayed away. We've left God's paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him, the sins of us all. He was oppressed and treated harshly. Yet he never said a word. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as the sheep is silent before the shears, he did not open his mouth unjustly condemned. He was led away. No one cared that he died without descendants. That his life was cut short in midstream. But he was struck down for the rebellion of my people. He had done no wrong and had never deceived anyone. But he was buried like a criminal. He was put in a rich man's grave. But it was the Lord's good plan to crush him and cause him grief. Yet when his life is made an offering for sin, he'll have many descendants. He will enjoy a long life.

And the Lord's good plan will prosper in his hands. When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish, he will be satisfied. And because of his experience, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins. Come on, if you're grateful for that, say amen. Let's make some declarations together this morning before you're seated, everybody. Together, even though watching those watching alone, you're ready. Go. I will hide this word in my heart that I might not sin against God. This word is life to my body and health to my bones. I will be a doer of the word and not a here only. And I am confident of this, that he who has begun a good work in me will complete it in Jesus' name. Amen. You can be seated. Couple of weeks ago, we talked about one of the most successful and greatest kings of all of Judah contemporaries. They lived at the same time. They lived in Israel at the same time. They were both being used by God to cry out to people that were in rebellion to return to the Lord and to return to the ways of the Lord. Biblical scholars agree that in the book of Isaiah, there's somewhere between

30 and 40 messianic prophecies about the coming Messiah. And we see a beautiful pattern in the book of Isaiah that's continued in the New Testament through the life of Jesus. It's the same pattern that we see on HGTV with some rundown house that's in need of a renovation. It's the same pattern that we see with a vehicle that's been abandoned in a garage that's cleaned up and then returned to its owner. Here's the pattern that we see in the book of Isaiah and the same pattern we see repeated through the life and ministry of Jesus. Here it is. You ready? Suffering that leads to salvation that leads to restoration. That's the pattern. Suffering that leads to salvation that leads to restoration. We've already established the fact that the Israelites were notorious for this particular pattern. It looked like this for them. They would prosper and then they would become arrogant in their prosperity, causing them to abandon the ways of the Lord, causing them to practice idolatry. And then because of their rebellion, it would lead them to bondage. It would lead them to some type of captivity and then they would cry out to God and God in His mercy would rescue them. They would turn back to the Lord and then they would prosper again and then they would start the pattern all over again. And God in His unending love and faithfulness to His people, which includes you and I. Listen, I want to make sure you understand. You were that car that was abandoned in a garage somewhere. You were that dilapidated old house and God in His love and God in His mercy stepped into the middle of your mess. Stepped into the middle of your addiction. Stepped into the middle of your bondage. God in His great love for you and I stepped into the midst of our darkness and said, "I love you." In spite of what you're doing and He lifts us out of the my replay, He lifts us out of the bondage, wraps His arms around us and says, "I love you with an everlasting love." That's who our God is. We were the ones who were in need. We were the ones who were suffering, maybe at different levels. Maybe you weren't as bad as somebody else, but the reality is all of us needed somebody to rescue us because we could not do it on our own. And Jesus was that man. Jesus is the one who rescued us, but He doesn't just rescue us. He also restores us. Can anybody say amen to that? His Israel, and we've talked about this, that we talked about it some last week, Israel was invaded by Assyria. And then they were taken captive by the Babylonians. Now let's go back a little bit to Isaiah chapter 38. In Isaiah 38, we discover that this great king by the name of Esekiah is struck with an illness and it's clear. In fact, Isaiah says to him, "You're going to die." And we read in chapter 38 that Esekiah lays on his bed,

turns towards the wall, begins crying out to God, asking God to heal Him. And God in His mercy heals Hezekiah. In fact, He grants to him 15 more years. Well, the sad thing is, in those 15 years, Hezekiah allowed arrogance and pride to set in. Like so many people we see today in the business world, in the political world, in the church world, so they're successful, but somewhere towards the end, they derail and they do not finish well. And unfortunately, that was the case with Hezekiah. Arrogant sets in, he begins to take credit for the prosperity and for the things that he's accomplished. In fact, in chapter 39 of Isaiah, we discover that some Babylonians visit Hezekiah. And guess what he does? Hezekiah is so proud of all that they've accomplished, He takes them on this grand tour and He shows them all of their treasuries. Not just one, all of them. Shows them where all the money is hidden. Hey, you think that's something? We got more gold than that. Come over here, let me show you this. And He shows them everything. And then the prophet Isaiah finds out what Hezekiah has done and he rebukes him. And we read that here in Isaiah chapter 39, verse five. Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, listen to this message from the Lord of Heaven's armies. The time is coming when everything in your palace, all the treasures stored up by your ancestors until now will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the Lord.

Some of your very own sons will be taken away into exile. They'll become eunuchs who will serve in the palace of Babylon's king. And that's exactly what happened. You read on in Isaiah 40 and the following chapters and they're in Babylonian captivity. But then God in His mercy, God with His unending love steps into the middle of their captivity. And in Isaiah chapter 52, we read where God through the prophet Isaiah begins to prophesy to them and say, I still love you, even though you've blown it again, that I want to rescue you again. Look at Isaiah 52, verse two. Rise from the dust of Jerusalem, sit in a place of honor, remove the chains of slavery from your neck, oh, captive daughter of Zion. In other words, God's saying to them, I still love you and I'm going to rescue you. And then in Isaiah chapter 53, that's where we started. The prophet Isaiah begins to speak of one who would come, not just to rescue Israel from Babylonian captivity, but Isaiah begins to speak of one who's going to come and he's going to rescue all humanity and all mankind from the bondages of sin and from the slavery of sin. Isaiah the prophet says in Isaiah 53,

some 700 years before the Messiah would come. Oh, let me tell you something. We have a God who's not just going to rescue you now from Babylon, but there's one coming who's going to rescue all of mankind. We read it a moment ago, verse three. He was despised and rejected. A man of sorrows, a crayon with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised and we did not care because Isaiah knew there would be people for many generations who would be aware of Jesus hanging on a cross and taking upon his purity, our filth, and would say, I don't care what he's done for me, and would turn their backs on his sacrifice, turn their backs on what he did on the cross and say, I want to live the way I want to live. And when we continue to live in sin, when we continue to cater to our flesh, we are despising him. We're despising the sacrifice that he made for us. Do you understand that Jesus came to the earth in all of his purity and that's what Isaiah is prophesying? That's what Isaiah is saying in verse five. He was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sin, beaten so that we could be whole, whipped so we could be healed. All of us, like sheep, that's straight away. We've left God's path to follow our own yet the Lord

laid on him, the sins of us all. Jesus comes, Isaiah is saying he's coming, he's coming. He's coming, he's gonna be the final sacrifice. He's gonna be the spotless, unblemished, to have to pay the penalty for sin. I don't want them to die because of their rebellion. I'm going to take their sin upon myself and Jesus takes upon his purity, our addiction, our pride, our sexual immorality, our rebellion, not just for the generation that was alive when he was crucified but for every generation to come, which includes you and I. He sees us covered with filth, stuck away in some garage, covered over with shame because we've blown it over and over and over again where most people would say they have no value and here comes Jesus. He says, oh no, I see beyond the grime, I see beyond the rats that have crawled into the interior. I see beyond the dust and he pulls us out. Come on somebody. He rescues us and cleans us up and gives us value once again. But here's the thing. He doesn't just rescue us. He doesn't just step into our captivity and our bondage and rescue us and deliver us, but he goes one step farther and he restores us. Joel chapter 2 verse 25, so I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten. He's a God of restoration and there's some of you here today and there's some of you watching online and you've messed up so much and so many times that you've lost things that were valuable. Maybe you lost your peace. Maybe you lost relationships. Some of you, your sin has cost you a lot of money. Some of you have lost your purity. Some of you have lost family. But I want you to know God brought you here today or God has you watching today from a prison cell. God has you watching online today because he wants you to understand that he can restore where the locust have devoured. He can restore to you what you have lost. He's a God of restoration. He takes us from suffering to salvation to restoration and brings great value to you and I in spite of what we've done and in spite of how many times that we've done it. I love the fact that God doesn't just save us and leave us. He saves us and restores us and there's a few things that we see in Isaiah 54 in this process of restoration that are key for you and I this morning. Beginning in verse 1, Isaiah chapter 54, beginning verse 1 it says this, "Seeing barren woman, you who never bore a child burst into song, shout for joy. You who are never in labor." He's talking to Israel. He's talking to Israel that's been barren, Israel that's been in captivity. Israel that has lost so much and he's saying to them, "Sing, sing, O barren woman. You have no

children. You've lost everything." He says, "Sing." Then he says in verse 2, "Better days are coming in large the place of your tent. Stretch your tent curtains wide. Do not hold back, lengthen your cords. Strengthen your stakes." Verse 3, "For you will spread out to the right and to the left. Your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities." He's saying to Israel, "You blew it. You blew it big, but I'm going to restore. In fact, I'm going to do more for you than what you've ever thought, even possible. And you need to go ahead and start making room. Make room for the miracle because you're going to spread out to the left and the right. You need to enlarge the place of your dwelling. God is saying to Israel, "You blew it, but there's a good day coming for you." Why? Because I am a God of restoration. And I believe God would say that to some of you today. You blew it. You've messed up. It's cost you. And maybe you are covered over with shame. Maybe you don't feel like you have any value. You'll never be used by God again. to your barrenness. I want you to get ready for a miracle. I want you to get ready for what I'm going to do because I'm a God of restoration. Listen, in the ancient world, barrenness carry tremendous shame and grief. And God is saying to bear in Israel, seeing a barren woman. She has no children. There's no evidence that anything is going to change. And yet God tells her, sing. I want you to notice the order. The singing comes before the children. The singing comes before the restoration. God isn't asking her Israel to sing because everything has changed already. Oh, that would be easy. We love it if it happens that way. God, I'm praying for a miracle.

I'm praying for healing. I'm praying for the finances. I'm praying for a husband. I'm praying for a wife. And it would be so easy to worship Him when the miracle happens, when the provision comes that we go, thank you God. I didn't know how it was going to pay my bills. And you provided, thank you God. I didn't know if I'd ever find a spouse and you brought them into my life. But God says, I want you to sing and worship on the front side of the miracle. Are y'all with me this morning? Are you getting this? He says, I don't want you to sing because everything has already changed. I want you to sing before everything changes. I want you to sing because He has spoken. Listen, there are times that we are asked by God to worship. There are times that God says, I want you to worship me. I want you to bring an offering of praise to me, not because we understand everything that's going on, but because we trust Him. I think all of us probably have this in common. There are things that have happened in our lives that we don't understand. There are injustices that have happened. There are things we've prayed for

and we didn't see it happen. And we don't understand it. All of us know what that's like. There have been things I've walked through in my life that I don't understand and the enemy tried to rob me of my worship. The enemy tried to cause me to turn my back on the sacrifice of Jesus and reject Him and say, I don't get this, I don't understand what's going on. So you must not be good. And God says, when you don't understand, I want you to still worship just because you trust me. Well, I'm a good God, I'm a good Father. Worship because you trust me. You may look at your life today and just see barrenness but God sees possibility. You see an empty field, God sees a harvest. You see a closed door, God sees an open door. You see what isn't there? God sees what He has promised that's still to come. That's gonna be released into your hands. Listen, God is able to bring life where there appears to be no life whatsoever. The God who brought creation out of nothing can bring hope out of hopelessness. The God who brought resurrection out of a tomb can bring newness out of places that seem dead. Listen to me church, listen to me today. Listen to me, those watching online. Do not confuse a barren season with a barren future.

The enemy wants you to think that the story is over. Listen, when God through the prophet Isaiah was saying to Israel, sing, O barren woman, you who never bore a child, sing, sing to the barrenness. Listen, one of the most amazing things that I've experienced in the times that I've gone to Israel, there's still a lot of desert everywhere you go, but as you're riding along, and there's just barrenness, all of a sudden you come across a gigantic orchard of date trees, flowers blooming in the desert, and it's the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah where God says, I'm gonna make a way in the desert. Isaiah chapter 45, I'm gonna make streams in the wilderness, and that's what God wants to do for us. But God says, I want you to worship me before you see the miracle. When you're looking out over your life and all that you see is barrenness. Because you trust me because you believe that my word works The temptation is to wait until we see it happen Temptation is that we will act after But faith says I'm going to act before I'm going to worship before I'm going to sow the seed first I'm going to write out the business plan first I'm going to write out the vision first. I'm going to prepare myself to serve before the opportunity is there Elijah the prophet tells the people in a season of drought rain is coming. There's no sign of rain He says rain is coming as a matter of fact. I want you to go dig ditches in preparation for the rain And I believe God is saying to us today. Are you willing to sing over your barrenness? Without the sign of anything changing just simply because you trust who he is