Sing, Oh Barren
Introduction:
- Today we are In the Book of Isaiah
- There are both practical intention for the people of Israel and a prophetic one for the Church today.Isaiah 54:1-4 (NKJV) 1 “Sing, O barren, You who have not borne! Break forth into singing, and cry aloud, You who have not labored with child! For more are the children of the desolate Than the children of the married woman,” says the LORD. 2 “Enlarge the place of your tent, And let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; Do not spare; Lengthen your cords, And strengthen your stakes. 3 For you shall expand to the right and to the left, And your descendants will inherit the nations, And make the desolate cities inhabited. 4 “Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed; Neither be disgraced, for you will not be put to shame; For you will forget the shame of your youth, And will not remember the reproach of your widowhood anymore.
- Sing oh barren one.
1.1. Isaiah starts the chapter with what seems to be an oxymoron.
1.2. With instructions to the barren one to sing.
1.3. We are not responding to our current situation but to the instructions of God
2. Calling into existence.
Romans 4:17 as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.
2.1. The Lord gives life to the dead.
2.2. Ela… when all seems to be loss and you are without any more options. 2.3. Who calls into existence things that do not currently exist.
Ephesians 3:20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,
3. Making space for expansion.
Isa 54:2 “Enlarge the place of your tent, And let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; Do not spare; Lengthen your cords, And strengthen your stakes. 3 For you shall expand to the right and to the left,
3.1. Do not spare
3.1.1. just go for it.
3.1.2. Do not hold back.
3.2. Lengthen your cords.
3.2.1. Ela… the bigger the tent the longer the cords. 3.3. Strengthen your stakes.
3.3.1. Tent of Praise – whenever a storm was coming we had to go out and strengthen the stakes before the storm.
4. Come as you are with what you have.
Isaiah 55 (ESV) 1 “ (Ho) Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. 2 Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.
4.1. Ho–calling with the most earnest attention. 4.2. One must only come thirsty and hungry. 4.3. Come to the waters.
Rev. 22:1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb
5. The importance of being thirsty for Jesus.
John 7:37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.
5.1. All who thirst.
Matt. 5:6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.
5.2. thirsteth–has a keen sense of need .
5.3. waters … wine and milk.
5.4. Not merely water, which is needed to maintain life at all, but wine and milk to strengthen, cheer, and nourish; the spiritual blessings of the Gospel are meant (Isa 25:6; So 5:1; Joh 7:37).
Isaiah 25:6-8 (NKJV) 6 And in this mountain The LORD of hosts will make for all people A feast of choice pieces, A feast of wines on the lees, Of fat things full of marrow, Of well-refined wines on the lees.
6. Come without any money.
Isaiah 55:1 “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. 2 Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
6.1. Spiritual bankrupt.
6.2. no money–Yet, in Isa 55:2, it is said, “ye spend money.” A seeming paradox.
6.3. We are all spending something
6.4. Ela…: You are really spiritual bankrupts: but thinking yourselves to have money, namely, a devotion of your own making, you lavish it on that “which is not bread,” that is, on idols, whether literal or spiritual.
Mark 5:24-26 (ESV) 24 And he went with him. And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. 25 And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, 26 and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse.
6.5. A symbolic story of how people spend their money on things that do not accomplish what they are looking for.
6.6. Buy now and not wait.
Matthew 25:10 (NKJV) And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut.
7. Do not give away what is rightfully yours.
Genesis 25:27 When the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the field, but Jacob was a peaceful man, living in tents. 28 Now Isaac loved Esau, because he had a taste for game, but Rebekah loved Jacob. 29 When Jacob had cooked stew, Esau came in from the field and he was famished; 30 and Esau said to Jacob, “Please let me have a swallow of that red stuff there, for I am famished.” Therefore his name was called Edom. 31 But Jacob said, “First sell me your birthright.” 32 Esau said, “Behold, I am about to die; so of what use then is the birthright to me?” 33 And Jacob said, “First swear to me”; so he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. 34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew; and he ate and drank, and rose and went on his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.
7.1. Spiritually famished.
7.2. Feeling like you are about to die.
7.3. In that state of spirit we give away what is ours to have.
7.4. Ela… It makes no sense that Esau would give up something so valuable and important for something so temporary and of little value.
8. Laboring after things that do not satisfy.
Isaiah 55:2 Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
8.1. laboring after that which is not bread.
8.2. buy … without money–another paradox. We are bought, but not with a price paid by ourselves (1Co 6:20; 1Pe 1:18, 19). In a different sense we are to “buy” salvation, namely, by parting with everything which comes between us and Christ who has bought it for us and by making it our own (Mt 13:44, 46; Lu 12:33; Re 3:18).
Conclusion:
9. Learning what satisfies the soul.
Isa 55:3 Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.
Habakkuk 2:13 (NKJV) 13 Behold, is it not of the LORD of hosts That the peoples labor to feed the fire, And nations weary themselves in vain?
9.1. Let’s not live in a way that is just feeding the fire.
9.2. Being deceived by the ”Bread of deceit”
Proverbs 20:17 (NKJV) 17 Bread gained by deceit is sweet to a man, But afterward his mouth will be filled with gravel.
9.3. Instead taking of the bread of life.
9.4. In contrast this with the “bread of life” (Joh 6:32, 35; also Lu 14:16-20).
John 6:32-33 (NKJV) 32 Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
9.5. live–by coming to me ye shall live: for “I am the life” (Joh 14:6).
9.6. everlasting covenant–(Jer 32:40; 2Sa 23:5).
9.7. The condition and limit in the obtaining of the spiritual benefits