01-30-22 HIStory - The Famous One (and the not so famous ones)

Scripture    Isaiah 46:9-10a

           In a conversation with some people at one of the churches I served in the past, I once quoted something from the Old Testament. There was a woman who responded, ”Yeah, but that is from long ago.” I said, “Yes it is, but God’s Word does not change.” Her response, “Yeah, that stuff doesn’t really apply to us today.” A video I remember when people were asked about the bible and someone replied, “Eating bugs out in the desert doesn’t have anything to do with my life today.”
           Let’s assume that the translations of the Bible we have today are accurate portrayals of the original writings. They are…but it would take me weeks of instruction to show you how we know that to be true. For the sake of argument, let’s agree that the Bible we have is what was truly written.
           Next we have to determine if it was inspired by God – all of it. Not some but all. This is where more people have a problem, even people who believe in God, have a hard time accepting that everything in the Bible was inspired by God. For the sake of argument, let’s agree that the Bible we read was inspired by God.
           Now we have one more even bigger hurdle to jump over. That is, believing that what was written by multiple people over many years. OT 1200-165 BC / NT 50-100 AD. What other book are you aware of that took about 1,300 years to complete? That also means it covers a time period of 3200 years ago and ended 2100 years ago. Oh, and it was also all written in a very different part of the world Israel, Egypt, Africa & Asia.
           If it was truly inspired by God and recopied to perfection over all this time, how can anything it says have anything to do with us today? That is a great question that some people here have today. It is also a question we better have a convincing explanation for. If not, the following words have no significance for us and we have all just wasted a year at church and in Community Groups reading “The Story”.

PRAYER

Isaiah 46:9-10a
Remember the former things, those of long ago;
I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.
I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come.
 
Remember the former things, those of long ago;
What do you remember from long ago? I remember playing mother may, red light green light, and red rover red rover two doors down at Becky Haldeman's house. I remember playing hide and go seek across from Matt Miller's house using the fire hydrant as home base. I remember playing kick the can and capture the flag using our yard and the Wallen's yard next door. I remember playing football with all the neighborhood boys between Billy Galiere's house and the donut shop. I remember playing tetherball, four square, hop scotch, and kickball on the playground at Georgian Heights elementary school. I remember everyone wanting to ride my bicycle, especially over in the faraway neighborhood where Karen Cottom, Peggy Kreuger, and Steve Hamm lived, because on my bike, instead of handlebars, it had a car steering wheel. I remember…I could literally go on for hours with names, places, events, moments in time of my life from 50+ years ago. And I would be the only one who would enjoy it…so, I will stop.
           Besides, God is not asking us to remember our personal moments in time. He is asking us to remember His personal moments in time. His time that involved us but where He was always the main character in the story = the real event that was happening. And when he is telling us this, it doesn't mean we had to be there. He is telling us to remember the former things of long ago that he did, for His purposes, with and through His people. In other words, God wants us to remember HIStory!
           We ought to know HIStory - the people, places, events, and moments in time as well or better than we know our own. How can we live His Word if we don’t know His word - HIStory?

 

I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.
If that were a human talking, would that not be the most egotistical things ever? For God, it is just stating fact to remove any shadow of doubt about who God is.
God has always made it very clear who He is.
READ Genesis 1 – all the times “GOD” is mentioned – he is the center of it all.
EXODUS 3:14 Moses asks, who should I say is sending me to Pharoah? “I AM THAT I AM”
THE GOD of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
John 8:58 “Jesus answered them: ‘I solemnly declare it: before Abraham came to be, I AM.”
Mark 2 Capernaum – hole in the roof – “Only God has the power to forgive sins” Which is easier…?”
Hebrews 1:3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
Here is another time we could go on and on and on. God, in Christ reminds us again and again that he alone is God – there is none other like Him!
Colossians 1:15ff     The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.  For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.  He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.  And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.  For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,  and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
 
I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come.
           There is nothing God does not know in HISTORY, in the PRESENT, or in the FUTURE. He is before all things and in all things.
           I love this phrase – I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. As a director of theater – you have to see the end of the play in your mind, then you back up and show the actors where to stand, when to enter and exit, and add in sets, props, lighting, sound, make up and all the elements that have to come together so that you see the end to be able to start from the beginning. (Many occupations require this kind of foresight)
But, none compares to God’s foresight. He knows the end of the STORY that none of us can see, He has not only read the last chapter, but He wrote it long before we were brought into being. He is simply revealing a chapter at a time till the end of the current book. The end of that book will not be the end of HIStory. HIStory goes on forever and ever.
 
CONCLUSION
If the Bible was truly inspired by God and recopied to perfection over all this time, how can anything it says have anything to do with us today? That is the question we better have a convincing explanation for.
We began with this assumption that many people believe that much of the bible doesn’t apply to us. Here is the thing – even if it doesn’t at first appear to be beneficial for us today, take a closer look, God’s inspired word does not exists to bore us, rather to invigorate our relationship with Him and with one another..
Deuteronomy 23:9-14 When you are encamped against your enemies, keep away from everything impure. ¹⁰ If one of your men is unclean because of a nocturnal emission, he is to go outside the camp and stay there. ¹¹ But as evening approaches he is to wash himself, and at sunset he may return to the camp.¹² Designate a place outside the camp where you can go to relieve yourself. ¹³ As part of your equipment have something to dig with, and when you relieve yourself, dig a hole and cover up your excrement. ¹⁴ For the Lord your God moves about in your camp to protect you and to deliver your enemies to you. Your camp must be holy, so that he will not see among you anything indecent and turn away from you.
          It was rules for cleanliness and hygiene. We don’t need those same rules today so God’s word has no meaning for us!     This passage from long ago was about much more than getting rid of the excrement in your life…it was about the sin in your life – the physical waste of the body is like the spiritual waste of your soul. You need to get it outside the camp and bury it. Get rid of it from your life – away from your camp, outside the gate.
          WAIT – How do those words from long ago apply? There is more to this story of taking your waste outside the gate – Hebrews 13:11-14 The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.
 
This text begins Remember the former things, those of long ago;
Is it really that important to remember God's story from so long ago? Yes! Why? The point is not to remember the story - it is to remember the God of the story.  What was one of Jesus last important instructions to us "As often as you participate in the meal - "REMEMBER ME!"
 
He wants us in his story so much that he offers to write our names in his book – the book of life. Once our name is written in God’s book, His story becomes what? OUR STORY!
SING: Blessed assurance – “This is my story this is my song”