{"id":192,"date":"2013-01-10T23:09:43","date_gmt":"2013-01-10T22:09:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/?p=192"},"modified":"2013-01-10T23:09:43","modified_gmt":"2013-01-10T22:09:43","slug":"i-am-doing-a-new-thing-isaiah-43","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/?p=192","title":{"rendered":"I am doing a new thing – Isaiah 43"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the start of this new year I want us to think about one word. \u201cNew\u201d
\n\u201cNew\u201d is an important word for us as Christians. We have new life through a new covenant. God gives us a new heart and puts a new spirit inside us. We have a new relationship with God our new Father. So we are called to live in newness of life and obey a new commandment, all in anticipation of the new creation God will make on Christ\u2019s return of which we already have a foretaste.
\nWhen God makes something new, that isn\u2019t just new in the sense of less old, a new car. It isn\u2019t even just \u201cnew improved\u201d, bigger and better. When God makes something new he transforms it. He doesn\u2019t throw away the old but he does change it! So when He rescued His chosen people from slavery in Egypt He made that jumble of people into a NEW nation, with a covenant, new laws and a new land to call their own. And through Jesus, God replaced that Old Covenant with Israel with a New Covenant with all who put their faith in Jesus, a new heart and a new relationship. The Apostle Paul wrote, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17, NIV) The Living Bible translates this verse this way. When someone becomes a Christian he becomes a brand new person inside. He is not the same any more. A new life has begun! (Living Bible)
\nSo indeed we may come to God through a new and living way!
\nHebrews 10:19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.
\nAs Christians we also look forward to the great transformation of the universe which will take place when Christ returns.
\nRevelation 21 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, \u201cNow the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.\u201d
\n5 He who was seated on the throne said, \u201cI am making everything new!\u201d <\/p>\n

We serve a God who makes all things new. Continuity yet also transformation. This was the encouraging message to the Israelites in exile in Babylon in the time of Isaiah. The God who makes all things new and who keeps on doing new things.
\nIsaiah 43 16\tThis is what the LORD says\u2014 he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters,
\n17who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:
\n18\u201cForget the former things; do not dwell on the past.
\n19See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.
\n20The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the desert and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen, 21the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise. <\/p>\n

God reminds Israel of the dramatic new thing He had done more than a thousand years before to create his chosen nation: parting the Red Sea so His people could escape. When God does a new thing it is always exciting but also challenging and even scary! Bringing Abraham\u2019s descendants out of slavery but into the desert. And through Isaiah God promises to do a new thing in the lives of the Exiles \u2013 to take them back from Babylon to rebuild Jerusalem. That will be scary!
\nWhen God does a new thing he transforms the old to create the new. And those changes can be painful and even frightening. The message of John the Baptist was too radical for the Pharisees and the Saducees. Jesus\u2019s life and ministry was too much of a threat to the Jewish and the Roman establishments \u2013 so they crucified Him. When God does a new thing people may have to lose many of the things they treasure, things which give them security and make them feel safe. When God does \u201ca new thing\u201d sometimes the old things have to go \u2013 and that can be terrifying.
\nWhen God is doing \u201ca new thing\u201d our only security lies in God Himself and in His unchangeable character. But here in Isaiah 43 God gives the Exiles who were facing hard times all the encouragement they need to put their trust in Him. The chapter reminds us of so many aspects of God\u2019s character.
\nGod\u2019s creative power
\n1 But now, this is what the LORD says\u2014 he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel:
\n6 Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth\u2014 7everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.\u201d
\nIn the beginning God created everything! He can be trusted to re-create now.
\nGod\u2019s saving power
\n1 \u201cFear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
\n 2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.
\n3For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your stead. <\/p>\n

God has saved his people before \u2013 He can save them again now! Because God\u2019s saving power is unstoppable!
\n11 I, even I, am the LORD, and apart from me there is no savior.
\n12 I have revealed and saved and proclaimed\u2014 I, and not some foreign god among you. You are my witnesses,\u201d declares the LORD, \u201cthat I am God.
\n13Yes, and from ancient days I am he. No one can deliver out of my hand. When I act, who can reverse it?\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed the God who parted the Red Sea and obliterated all the armies of the Egyptians can save His people even today. God can accomplish whatever he chooses!
\nGod\u2019s unfailing love
\n4\tSince you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you, <\/p>\n

God has set his love on His chosen people and his love will never let them go!
\n43 But now, this is what the LORD says\u2014 he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: \u201cFear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. <\/p>\n

6 I will say to the north, \u2018Give them up!\u2019 and to the south, \u2018Do not hold them back.\u2019 Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth\u2014 7 everyone who is called by my name, <\/p>\n

10 \u201cYou are my witnesses,\u201d declares the LORD, \u201cand my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me. <\/p>\n

20 The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the desert and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen, 21 the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise. <\/p>\n

God\u2019s unfailing love for His chosen people will reassure them when He does his next new thing, and so also will
\nGod\u2019s unfailing presence
\n1 \u201cFear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. 2When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; <\/p>\n

5 Do not be afraid, for I am with you; <\/p>\n

Here is God\u2019s message to his chosen people in every place in every age \u2013 do not be afraid, because I am with you! The creative power of God and the saving power of God, the unfailing love of God and the unfailing presence of God! When God is doing something new, we do not need to be afraid.<\/p>\n

Isaiah 43 definitely qualifies as my favourite Bible passage. Back in 1976 I was studying science and I was leading the College Christian Union, which was a small part of the University Christian Union. The first half of the chapter spoke to me very personally when I was discouraged and even overwhelmed by the challenges ahead.<\/p>\n

But at that time the whole Christian Union was given a word of prophecy which said something quite remarkable. \u201cMany of us believe that God wants to do something qualitatively new in our C.U.s this year.\u201d Something qualitatively new. Not just bigger and better. But a transformation into something more glorious than we can imagine. And that prophecy was certainly fulfilled in our own college. God blessed our group among others with a love for each other and a unity and a vitality which was a powerful witness. Our College Christian Union doubled in size and in the University wide mission led by John Stott, over twenty of our fellow students committed their lives to Christ which out of a college of only 300 was quite remarkable. <\/p>\n

18\u201cForget the former things; do not dwell on the past.
\n19See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? <\/p>\n

I am doing a new thing! I first preached on this passage in 1985 in Bushey Baptist Church, the church which had sent me to London Bible College to train to become a minister. I had just graduated and it was the last Sunday before the induction of Rev Dr Peter Hicks as their new minister. And it seemed right to challenge the church to expect great things from God as Peter\u2019s ministry was to begin. To expect God to do \u201ca new thing\u201d amongst us. Not that things were going badly or wrong at the time, because Tony Mason\u2019s ministry had been richly blessed. But God is the one who can do immeasurably more than we could ask for, or even imagine, by His Spirit at work within us. So I encouraged Bushey Baptist Church to expect God to do \u201ca new thing\u201d amongst us with the arrival of Peter Hicks. But still I think everybody was amazed at the way the church doubled in size over the next five years! God certainly did a new thing at Bushey!
\n18\u201cForget the former things; do not dwell on the past.
\n19See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? <\/p>\n

I believe that 2013 is the year that God is going to do a new thing here at North Springfield Baptist Church. Not just bigger and better, but something qualitatively new and different. We have already seen many encouragements over the last two years, but in many ways that has been a time of consolidation and building up our resources. Now I believe God is ready to do a new thing. I don\u2019t know what shape that new thing will be \u2013 but it will be exciting to find out! Perhaps it will be in our worship. Perhaps it will be in the depth of our fellowship. Perhaps it will be in the impact of our witness.
\n10\u201cYou are my witnesses,\u201d declares the LORD, \u201cand my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me. 11\tI, even I, am the LORD, and apart from me there is no savior.
\n12 I have revealed and saved and proclaimed\u2014 I, and not some foreign god among you. You are my witnesses,\u201d declares the LORD, \u201cthat I am God. 13Yes, and from ancient days I am he. No one can deliver out of my hand. When I act, who can reverse it?\u201d <\/p>\n

God has called us to be His witnesses. If we are faithful in our witness, God will take care of the outcome! I am sure you noticed the wonderful number of guests who came to our Christmas events. And the new folk who have begun to worship regularly with us over the last couple of months. We haven\u2019t chased after them. God has just brought them to us! Perhaps they are the beginning of the new thing God is going to do among us. But are we prepared for God to do whatever He wants among us? To do His new thing? Are we prepared for the hard work and the prayer and the change and the disruption? Are we prepared to pay the price in time and money and commitment? Do we really WANT God to do a new thing in North Springfield Baptist Church?<\/p>\n

18\t\u201cForget the former things; do not dwell on the past.
\n19\tSee, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At the start of this new year I want us to think about one word. \u201cNew\u201d \u201cNew\u201d is an important word for us as…<\/span><\/p>\n

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