Isaiah 56-57 - Outline

[Jim Watt]

“*TWO ARE BETTER THAN ONE” MINISTRIES*

*Jim & Marie Watt*

*Tel: 253-517-9195 - Email: jmbetter at gmail.com*

*Web: www.2rbetter.org*

December 12, 2012


 *JUL 22 - ISAIAH 56-57 - WHERE GOD DWELLS*


 *1. 56:7 (56:1-8, ESV) RULES FOR GOD’S HOUSE - “These I will bring to my
holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt
offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house
shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” *Father, it is
*Your*Kingdom, and
*Your* House! You have the right and authority to do with them and as as *
You* please. For *Your* pleasure, we were created! *Hallowed be your :name!*


 *2. 56:10 (56:9-12) BLIND WATCHMEN OF GOD’S HOUSE. “His watchmen are
blind; they are all without knowledge; they are all silent dogs; they
cannot bark, dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber.” *Father, it is not
right for Your shepherds, Your watchmen, to so abuse Your sheep. All
leaders are but stewards of Your possessions, and their wisdom is but to be
*faithful*. *Faithfulness* becomes Your house, O Jehovah! *Your :kingdom
come!*


 *3. 57:1 (57:1-2) PREMATURE GOING TO GOD’S HOUSE. “The righteous man
perishes, and no one lays it to heart; devout men are taken away, while no
man understands. For the righteous man is taken away from calamity.” *You
work in mysterious ways, O Jehovah Father, Your wonders to perform! Your
will and ways are higher than the heavens, and You transcend our thoughts
and wisdom in every respect! *Your :will be done, As in heaven, so on earth.
*


 *4. 57:3 (57:3-12) THOSE WITH NO PART IN GOD’S HOUSE. “But you, draw near,
sons of the sorceress, offspring of the adulterer and the loose
woman.” *Sometimes
Father, the die is cast; sometimes we reach the point of no return with
You. Sometimes we find like Esau, no place of repentance, for we have
sinned away our day of grace! O Father, in Jesus’ Name, we seek Your face
in forgiveness. *Our :daily :bread Give us this day.*


 *5. 57:13b-14 (57:13-14) TRUST: CONDITION FOR DWELLING IN GOD’S HOUSE. “But
he who takes refuge in me shall possess the land and shall inherit my holy
mountain. 14 And it shall be said, ‘Build up, build up, prepare the way,
remove every obstruction from my people’s way.” *Father, like David we
would dwell in the house of Jehovah for ever! We would remove every
hindrance, and every stumbling-block from such a favored position! We know
that by so doing, we can be clothed with the full armor of God! *And
forgive us our :debts, As we also have forgiven our :debtors.*


 *6. 57:15 LOCATION OF GOD’S HOUSE. “For thus says the One who is high and
lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high
and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit.’” *
*Holiness* become Your Name, O Father, and *holiness* in us Your saints,
adorns Your Name. You lead us in the path of *holiness* for Your Name’s
sake. How easy it is for You to deliver us from the evil one, when we walk
the path of *humility*! *And bring us not into temptation.*


 *7. 57:20-21 (57:16-21) HEALING FOR THOSE OF GOD’S HOUSE. “But the wicked
are like the tossing sea; for it cannot be quiet, and its waters toss up
mire and dirt. 21 There is no peace” says my God, “for the wicked.” *You
Father, separate the wheat from the chaff. You will not punish the
righteous with the wicked. Healing in Your house is for the righteous after
a time of chastening, forming and shaping! *But deliver us from the evil
one!*


 *NOTE**: 57:16 (57:16-21) MERCY FROM JEHOVAH IN HIS HOUSE. **“For I will
not contend forever, nor will I always be angry; for the spirit would grow
faint before me, and the breath of life that I made.” *Father, You remember
our frame, that we are but dust. You do *not* deal with us according to our
iniquities, but according to Your *grace* do You deal with us!


 *Our Psalm for the day: 22:22 (22) WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME? “I will tell
of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise
you.” *O Jesus, we see You in the midst of Your church, praising the Father
through Your many-membered body. We see us *hallowing Your Name* Father,
through the indwelling inspiration of the Spirit of Christ.
 “If you wish to know God you must know his word; if you wish to perceive
his power you must see how he works by his word; if you wish to know his
purpose before it is actually brought to pass you can only discover it by
his word!” C.H. Spurgeon


 Subject: This is beyond all others :The Psalm of the Cross.” It may have
been actually repeated word by word by our Lord when hanging on the tree;
it would be too bold to say that it was so, but even a casual reader may
see that it might have been. It begins with, “My God, my God, why have You
forsake Me?” and ends, according to some, in the original, with, “It is
finished.” For plaintive expressions uprising from unutterable depths of
woe, we may say of this Psalm, “There is none like it.”


 It is the photograph of our Lord’s saddest hours, the record of his dying
words, the lachrymatory of His last tears, the memorial of His expiring
joys. David and his afflictions may be here in a very modified sense, but,
as the star is concealed by the light of the sun, he who sees Jesus will
probably neither see nor care to see David. Before us we have a description
both of the darkness and of glory of the cross, the sufferings of Christ
and the glory which shall follow. Oh, for grace to draw near and see this
great sight! We should read reverently, putting off our shoes from our
feet, as Moses did at the burning bush, for if there be holy ground
anywhere in Scripture it is in this Psalm.


 22:1. *My God, my God.* Let us gaze with holy wonder and mark the flashes
of light amid the awful darkness of that midday-midnight. First, our Lord’s
faith beams forth and deserves our reverent imitation; He keeps His hold
upon His God with both hands and cries twice, *My God, my God!* The spirit
of adoption was strong within the suffering Son of man, and He felt no
doubt about His interest in His God. Oh, that we could imitate this
cleaving to an afflicting God! Nor does the sufferer distrust the power of
God to sustain Him, for the title used - *El* - signifies strength and is
the Name of the Mighty God. *Why have You forsake Me? * We must lay the
emphasis on every word of this saddest of all utterances. *Why? *What is
the great cause of such a strange fact as for God to leave His own Son at
such a time and in such a plight? There was no cause in Him; why then was
He deserted?

 *Have*. It is done, and the Savior is feeling the dread effect as He asks
the question; it is surely true, but how mysterious! It was no threatening
of forsaking which made the great Surety cry aloud. He endured that
forsaking in very deed. *You. *I can understand why traitorous Judas and
timid Peter should be gone, but You, my God, my faithful Friend, how can
You leave Me? This is the worst of all, yes, worse than all put together.
Hell itself has for its fiercest flame the separation of the soul from God.
*Forsaken*. If You had chastened I might bear it, for Your face would
shine; but to forsake Me utterly, ah! why is this? *Me*. Your innocent,
obedient, suffering Son - why do You leave Me to perish? A sight of self
seen by penitence, and of Jesus on the cross seen by faith, will best
expound this question. Jesus is forsaken because our sins had separated
between us and our God.


 22:29. *None can keep alive his own soul. *This is the stern counterpart
of the gospel message of “look and live.” There is no salvation out of
Christ. We must hold life and have life as Christ’s gift, or we shall die
eternally. This is very solid evangelical doctrine and should be proclaimed
in every corner of the earth, that like a great hammer it may break in
pieces all self-confidence. *These “notes” on Psalm 22 are from “The
Treasury of David” by C. H. Spurgeon, abridged by D. O. Fuller)*



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