Series: Isaiah
Title: Soul Desire
Text: Isaiah 26: 9
Date: April 1, 2010
Place: Sovereign Grace Baptist Church, Princeton, NJ
Isaiah 26: 9: With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.
The days before our Lord walked this earth and the days after our Lord’s resurrection he called “night.” But when our Lord walked this earth he called it day.
John 9: 4: I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. 5: As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.
Christ is the great and morning star. He is the Day Star from on high which hath visted us. The day he brought in righteousness for his people is the day to which Isaiah looked when he says, for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. It is the day to which all God’s elect in our day look to behold God’s righteousness—Christ Jesus the Righteousness of God, on the cross we behold Righteousness—God’s Righteousness and our Righteousness—and we look forward to the day of his return.
Before Christ came it was called “Night” because the one nation who was given the oracles of God sought acceptance with God by their works rather than in Christ of whom the oracles foreshadowed.
Isaiah 8: 20: To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. 21: And they shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry: and it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward. 22: And they shall look unto the earth; and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish; and they shall be driven to darkness.
After Christ rose from the dead it is called night, a great “falling away” because when the gospel opened up to the Gentile nations, though it means great light for the elect of God, taught of God, called out from among all the nations, like that one nation before, now multitudes over many nations latch on to the law of God, calling themselves by the name of the Lord, yet seeking to come to God by their works rather than in Christ, just as the Jews in Isaiah’s day (2 Thessalonians 2: 1-4.) Anti-christ is the naturally, religious man--“which opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.”
Illustration: Recent poll--80% of Americans claim to be Christians. Report: plague of grasshoppers. Judgment of God?
Believers walk in the day--in the light of Christ. But we do so in the midst of a world as dark as night. And we have many night seasons of persnal trial. Isaiah says, "with my soul have I desired thee in the night." I think there are some dear saints here who have this desire this very hour.
Three things I want you to see: 1) this is soul desire, 2) It is desire for Christ, 3) this desire shall be filled.
I. THIS IS SOUL DESIRE
Isaiah 26: 9: With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early
This is not the desire of man’s nature.
Some experience fleeting desires. Someone is moved by a sermon. As they hear they begin to make resolutions of commitment to themselves. They may even speak to you about a concern for the commitment of the whole congregation--who are truly laying down their lives for the furtherance of the gospel. Then straightway they go right back into the world and the resolution proves to be a fleeting desire.
James says “he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. His goodness is as the morning cloud; and as the early dew it passeth away. Wells without water; clouds without rain.
There is no urgency in natural desire. James said our “will”, our “life”, is but a vapor that appears for a very little time then vanishes away. Our daily plans cause us to imagine we have many more days, plenty of time and takes away all urgency.
Illustration: O vain man, you’re time is up. You’ve had your last meal. You’ve been read your last rights. You’re strapped onto the gurney. The poison is about to be injected into your veins by the executioner. Will you say “when it doesn’t interfere with my plans then I’ll seek God?”
"To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts."
Point: The conscience of nature can be stirred with desire. But it goes only as far as nature can go, and no farther.
This is the desire of the spirit which God puts in his saints.
Ezekiel 36: 26: A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. 27: And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
The desire of the believer is not a fleeting desire but a continual desire, a diligent desire.
Isaiah 26: 9: yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: (diligently)
This desire is the hunger and a thirst which WE MUST HAVE FILLED.
II. THIS DESIRE IS FOR CHRIST JESUS THE LORD.
Isaiah 26: 9: With my soul have I desired thee;….yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee
The Lord makes us to desire him by revealing his glorious Person within us.
Isaiah 6: 1: In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. 2: Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. 3: And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
1. He reveals he is the King who reigns in sovereign power in whom you can trust—faith sees him, a King, “sitting upon a throne.”
2. He reveals his excellency, his beauty—“high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.”
3. He reveals the purpose for all things is praise to his great name—“the seraphims”—praise his “glory.”
4. He reveals his glory unto you—“Holy, holy, holy, it the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.”
5. Through his gospel he enters into the spirit within you like smoke—Isaiah 6: 4: And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
He makes us to desire him because the view of him makes us to know our desperate need of his mercy and grace
Isaiah 6:5: Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
He makes us to desire him by revealing that in perfect holiness—he is both just and the justifier in taking away all your sin
Isaiah 6: 6: Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: 7: And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.
By making you to behold his person and his finished work on your behalf he establishes your mind in perfect peace, making you willing to serve him.
Isaiah 6: 8: Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.
Isaiah was overjoyed when the Lord made him to know his sin was taken away. It was a day of grace. But very soon, Isaiah experienced something else—night.
Application: Some of you sitting here know Isaiah’s desire this very hour. You started out with great joy but now you find yourself in great tribulation? In fact, the tribulation you encounter after conversion is worse than any you encountered before.
Personally, every believer has great night seasons.
Ps 77:2 In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord: my sore ran in the night, and ceased not: my soul refused to be comforted.
Psalm 42: 1: «To the chief Musician, Maschil, for the sons of Korah.» As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. 2: My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God? 3: My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?
Temporal trouble: We have had 3 of our brethren suffer the loss of their jobs, others uncertain about theirs. And spiritual trouble. Isaiah soon realized the Lord had but a very small remnant reserved in the whole land. The majority had heavy eyelids, a people who shut up their ears. It caused great tribulation and sorrow.
We, as believers, just as Isaiah, have the Light of Christ and we desire Christ though we dwell in a world which is as dark as night. And Like Isaiah, in the midst of this world of tribulation, we see our own sin and corruption, our pride and selfishness and self-will. Your heart aches within you. You are unable to comfort yourselves. Your thoughts are turned from this to that. You even find yourself wondering if you are really a child of God.
Isaiah 26: 9: With my soul have I desired thee in the night;
Would it give you any comfort, my dear brethren, to know I suffer that same suffering as you? In my lowest season—someone will let me know they don’t approve of my ministering or my gospel. Then I go home carrying their burden—one they don’t even realize they have—as well as my own. I suffer for you who are in your various trials or in sickness. Then there is my own sin and selfishness.
III. THIS DESIRE SHALL BE FILLED BY OUR LORD.
Concerning God’s saints, scripture says, "Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.” We read in
Isaiah 26: 3: Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.
Where then are the ways of pleasantness, and the paths of peace in these night seasons? Turn with me to John 16: 33.
John 16: 33: These things I have spoken unto you that IN ME ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
How does our text say he will keep us in this peace? Turn over to John 17: 15-17.
John 17: 15: I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. 16: They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 17: Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
Be sure you get this: Christ our Peace—prays the Father that to keep us from the evil—to sanctify us from the evil, in the midst of the evil—how so? THROUGH THE WORD OF TRUTH. Now turn back to Isaiah 26.
Application: Many of you came here tonight with this soul desire, desiring Christ with your spirit within you. You came to hear the gospel of Christ Jesus whom you desire. As Christ Jesus prays this prayer to the Father, this is what the Holy Spirit is sent forth to do in this place, through this gospel: read Isaiah 26: 3 again and take out the italicized words (which are added by the translators):
Isaiah 26: 3: Thou wilt keep…in perfect peace,…mind stayed…because he trusteth in thee.
Are you getting this?: Through this gospel of Christ, God our Savior will keep our minds stayed on Christ our Peace because through the faith he gave us, we entrust this very work unto him. Faith’s cry is:
Isaiah 26: 9: With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee
I Need THEE EVERY HOUR, Most Gracious Lord
No tender voice like THINE can peace afford
Temptations lose their power when THOU art nigh
Come quickly and abide or life is vain
I need THEE, O I need THEE
EVERY HOUR I NEED THEE
O bless me now my Savior, I come to THEE.
James 1: 25: But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
He knows your frame. He will not suffer you to be tempted any longer than you are able. Listen to the Word of Righteousness whom you hunger and thirst after:
Matthew 5:6: Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
And Patti, and Cheryl, because you have entrusted YOUR SOUL TO HIM, and because you have entrusted him to keep your spirit within you established on him, he promises to do just that—not on yourself, not on me your pastor, not on these your brethren, not on the waves of the storm, but to keep you in and your mind established on Christ. He is Perfect Peace.
He does it like he did Isaiah in the beginning, like he did for you in the beginning:
· He reveals his glorious person to you
· He reveals your sin is purged
· He will keep you in Christ your Peace because you trust him to do so
In Closing Let Me Give You Some Answers to a Question You May Ask Yourself. These are answers which I need to be reminded of myself. “Why does he sometimes make us wait so long to give us our desire?”
When God makes us to wait we can be sure it is for our own profit.
1. A long wait makes us see our need:
- our need of wisdom
- our need of faith
- our need of patience
It is good to see how deceivable our hearts are so we learn not to trust them.
2. A long wait grows our desires for Christ--mercy long sought for is mercy well-cherished.
3. Now may not be the right time to show you the riches of his grace, which you will see more fully after a little longer time. Job had to wait, but in the Lord’s time, Job found the Lord to be full of pity and tender mercy.
Illustration: Father in the mall with the small child
When he fills your desire, he brings us to rest right here:
Isaiah 26: 12: LORD, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for thou also hast wrought all our works in us.
Once again when he calls, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Again you say with fresh courage, “Here am I; send me.”
He left us in the midst of this evil world of tribulation to prove to us HE ALONE CAN…AND HE SHALL KEEP YOU IN CHRIST, AND HE WILL KEEP YOUR MIND STAYED UPON CHRIST. AND WE SAY, WHAT PERFECT PEACE HE AFFORDS ME!
James 5: 7: Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord….8:…stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.
AMEN!